AmaZulu coach slams PSL over Pirates match

AmaZulu head coach Pablo Franco Martin has hit out at the Premier Soccer League over the scheduling of Usuthu’s DStv Premiership clash with Orlando Pirates at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Tuesday evening.

The game was rescheduled by the PSL to allow Pirates a free week ahead of the MTN8 final, which they won when they defeated Mamelodi Sundowns on penalties.

The Buccaneers, however, have now had an extra day to prepare for the match, compared to AmaZulu. Pirates beat Cape Town Spurs on Friday evening at home in the Carling Knockout, while AmaZulu had to travel to Johannesburg for their shock Carling Knockout win at Kaizer Chiefs on Saturday evening.

Usuthu should be heading into the match full of confidence, but Martin played down his side’s chances of beating Pirates and his Spanish compatriot Jose Riveiro.

“To be honest I don’t expect too much,” said Martin, after Taariq Fielies’ late goal had seen his side take down Amakhoso.

“It is not fair to play on a Tuesday. It was something unexpected from the PSL. They postponed the game … before the MTN8 final, which I understood. But to have this game on a Tuesday when we had a crucial game on a Saturday, playing today at 6, when we cannot travel back (today) … we only have Monday to prepare and even then we cannot really prepare for the game.

‘No time to rest’

“I came here to play games like the one today, to beat these kinds of opponents,” added Martin.

“To beat a huge team like Chiefs we had to prepare really well. With preparation this team does not have to fear anyone. But without preparation, there is no time to rest and the players are now on ice trying to see if they are ready for that game (against Pirates).

“It is much more difficult, and even more so that they (Pirates) played yesterday (Friday). I need to say publicly that it is not fair and I think things should be fair for everyone.

“We are all fighting for the same objective, we all have families to feed and we want to win and put up a good show. We don’t want to play our reserve team in official games or go with players that are at risk of injury, because they are overloaded.”