‘I wouldn’t say Pirates were that much better than us’: AmaZulu coach ‘Fohloza’

AmaZulu coach Romain 'Fohloza' Folz was proud of his team despite losing Saturday's MTN8 final 1-0 to Orlando Pirates at Moses Mabhida Stadium, robbing the KwaZulu-Natal outfit of an opportunity to celebrate their 90th anniversary with a trophy.

Usuthu lost the match through Monnapule Saleng’s superb first-half free kick that goalkeeper Veli Mothwa failed to stop in a half dominated by Pirates.

AmaZulu played on the front foot in the second half without managing to breach Bucs goalkeeper Richard OFori's goal.   

“I think we were very inactive in the first half and our overall intensity was very low,” Folz said in his post-match reaction.

“I wouldn’t say Pirates were that much better than us. I think they were lucky and they got many free kicks, and used one of them well.

“That was the only difference for me in the first half. The second half was much better for us because our intensity was much better and the ball was released much quicker and our movement off the ball was much better.

“It allowed us to have more chances, but unfortunately we couldn’t score. If I were to look at the game again I would probably say a draw would have been a fair result.

“But that’s the way it is. I think if we had done better in the first half, especially in the first 30 minutes, there would probably have been different outcome.”

Folz, nicknamed Fohloza (someone who crushes everything in front of him), said he had no regrets about the XI he started on Saturday.

Second-half substitutes Dumisani Zuma and Lehlohonolo Majoro were among players who gave Usuthu chances for an equaliser.

“The only thing that annoys me, and bothers me a bit, is the fact that they [Pirates] couldn’t score against us in open play. If they beat us right and left and beat us 3-0 then I would accept that they were better than us.

“I don’t think that was a case in this game. Again, I don’t take anything away from them — congratulations. You only play one final, but I don’t think they were better than us.”

Folz joined AmaZulu last month when they were already in the semifinals and having played the first leg away to Kaizer Chiefs that ended 1-1 under his predecessor, Brandon Truter. AmaZulu played to a 0-0 draw with Amakhosi in the second leg under Folz to progress on away goals.

“It [the final] happened in week four from when I arrived [at AmaZulu], so it’s a bit early. There’s a lot to do for the club to grow and go in a direction that we want to go. It’s still very early in the process.

“The players are professional and they know how to move on from this setback. It’s going to hurt tonight but tomorrow we’ll have to do other things.

“It’s in the past now and as much as we want to analyse the game and see where went wrong, there’s so much more coming up this season. It’s only one event and of course we would have liked to be the winners. But we’ll be back.”

Usuthu meet Mamelodi Sundowns in the semifinal of the friendly Carling Black Label Cup single-day tournament on Saturday before the two-month domestic break for the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar.

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