AmaZulu Coach Arthur Zwane Criticizes Team's Defense After MTN8 Loss

AmaZulu FC head coach, Arthur Zwane, sharply criticized his team's defensive performance after they were defeated by Sekhukhune United in the MTN8 quarter-final, which took place on Sunday at Chatsworth Stadium.

In the coach's view, the team let itself down in the dramatic match, which ended 4-3 in extra time against Sekhukhune United. Although the Usuthu team took the lead early in the match thanks to a goal from Thando Ngwenyi and controlled most of the first minutes, Zwane believes the players failed to capitalize on their dominance and allowed the opponent to come back into the game.

"I think we controlled the game for the first 25 minutes," Zwane stated. "I believe that after the goal was scored, we slowed down, although we should have put pressure on them and forced mistakes."

AmaZulu created additional chances but could not maintain the advantage before Sekhukhune equalized shortly before halftime with a shot deflected by Tshepo Mokoeane. Zwane admitted that he strongly urged the players to manage the final minutes of the first half more effectively.

"Right before halftime, I even signaled to the players that there were only three minutes left, let's finish the game, let's slow everything down," he added. "Again, we gave them too much space to play. They played outside in, we lost the ball, and they scored."

After the break, the AmaZulu coach reacted even more harshly to his team's defense when Sekhukhune scored twice in a row, increasing the lead to 3-1 before Usuthu managed to fight back.

"In the second half, I have never seen such terrible defense from my team," Zwane said. He was particularly upset about how Ellis Ramala managed to get past and score Sekhukhune's third goal.

"When there were three of our defenders on him, I told them he is left-handed, we need to force him to move right, don't let him go inside," Zwane specified. Nevertheless, AmaZulu showed significant character by recovering from the 3-1 deficit; Ngwenyi scored the second goal of the match, and then Taarik Phillips equalized.

However, Zwane felt his team should have won the match during regular time. "After we equalized, we should have scored two or three goals. Quick goals end the game."

Ultimately, the match went into extra time, where Katlego Letlapa's shot in the seventh minute concluded the tense contest, which saw seven goals scored.

For Zwane, this defeat served as a painful reminder that AmaZulu needs to be more decisive both in attack and in defense. "It's one of those things," he concluded. "We need to learn from these mistakes."