AmaZulu coach Arthur Zwane remains confident his side can secure a top-four finish despite their recent setback against Mamelodi Sundowns.
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AmaZulu FC have been one of the standout performers among the Premiership’s top five this season, emerging as genuine contenders for a high finish while maintaining impressive consistency. Head coach Arthur Zwane has confirmed that the club’s primary objective remains securing fourth place.
That ambition suffered a setback after Usuthu conceded late in their clash against Mamelodi Sundowns, slipping to only their sixth defeat of the campaign following a 1-0 loss sealed by substitute Marcelo Allende.
Although a top-three finish remains mathematically possible, AmaZulu have lacked the cutting edge required in decisive moments. However, despite those challenges, Zwane remains optimistic and continues to back his side’s chances of finishing the season among the league’s top teams.
“Our target is position four,” Zwane said during the post-match press conference.
“It has always been there for us as a club, and we also fancy our chances of finishing in the top three because teams are going to cancel each other out.
“All we have to do is win our home games and unfortunately we lost on Tuesday. We will have to go back to the drawing board, redeem ourselves and ensure that we go out and get maximum points away from home just to give ourselves a chance.”
With a relatively young squad still fine-tuning different aspects of their game while chasing top honours, Zwane reflected on both the progress and the missed opportunities.
He highlighted promising attacker Thandolwenkosi Ngwenya, who has scored six league goals this season but still has technical areas to improve to reach an even higher level.
The former Kaizer Chiefs mentor admitted that costly lapses have prevented his team from climbing further up the standings.
“It’s disappointing because I can sit here and tell you that with the points we have dropped, AmaZulu would have been first by now,” he continued.
“People might think I am mad saying this because we watch football differently. We went to Sekhukhune United, (we) were leading 1-0 and (we) conceded in the dying minutes. We went to Magesi FC and conceded in referee’s optional time, and it was the same against Chiefs.”
With just two points separating Usuthu from third-placed Sekhukhune and level at 30 points with fourth-placed Chiefs, the KwaZulu-Natal outfit missed a valuable opportunity to close the gap — particularly after Chiefs were beaten by Stellenbosch FC (2-1) on the same evening.
Zwane also pointed to other dropped points that continue to haunt his side.
“There is a game we lost against Polokwane City and we were not supposed to lose that match, so I am already talking about nine points.
“That is football for you because there have been other games that we have won but did not deserve to win. But if you check the stats, we are one of the best attacking teams.
“When you look at our system, we create chances and we might score one, but in the same game we will also miss four chances.”
AmaZulu will next face Stellies at the Danie Craven Stadium this Friday (7.30pm kickoff) — a fixture that has historically proved challenging, despite their recent 2-1 victory which ended a six-match winless run in all competitions.
* Obakeng Meletse is Independent Media’s multi-sport writer. For fresh video content, follow our YouTube channel The Clutch