AMAZULU carry the heaviest of hearts ahead of their trip to TS Galaxy looking to avenge their biggest disappointment so far this season.
Usuthu will make the trip to Mpumalanga for a clash against the Rockets at Mbombela Stadium today at 5.30pm with vengeance in their eyes.
The last time the teams met was in the semi-finals of the Carling Knockout Cup at Moses Mabhida Stadium in December.
Galaxy scored three goals on the day to AmaZulu’s two in an entertaining encounter, dashing Usuthu’s dreams of ending their 32-year wait for a trophy.
Speaking to the media ahead of their trip to Mpumalanga, club captain and goalkeeper Veli Mothwa could not be filtered in his feelings.
The 33-year-old goal-minder expressed that he and his teammates have their minds set on releasing all of their pent-up anger on Galaxy.
“TS Galaxy, actually I will say, don’t get me wrong, I feel sorry for them for this coming weekend,” said the Bafana Bafana shot-stopper.
“For me, it hurt me when they beat us in the semi-final, and then for the team, I think it is personal now. We are motivated, it’s personal. We can’t say let bygones be bygones. It’s a revenge game, but we need to apply ourselves and be tactically good and disciplined. It is going to be a war zone in Mpumalanga so we are motivated to play the game.”
AmaZulu will have an opportunity to complete a first-ever league double over Galaxy having already edged them in the league at the start of the season.
The teams are also in direct competition with each other for a place in the top eight at the end of the season with Galaxy occupying ninth place and AmaZulu a point away in 11th.
Usuthu head coach Pablo Franco Martin called for a more measured and calculated approach from his team rather than the emotion-driven onslaught being plotted by his players.
The Spanish mentor expressed that he carried no grudges against their next opponents and would treat this match like any other in terms of importance.
“For me it’s just one more game, I don’t have that feeling of revenge just because we lost in the Carling Cup,” he said.
“On any other day and if the performance was bad, then maybe I’d ask for something else from the boys, but that day we played well and created chances. Of course, we made mistakes and they did a lot of things right and that’s what we need to correct from that day while taking advantage of the motivation of the players.
“For me, I’m always going to be motivated for every game we play until the end of the season, the same way I was motivated when we played the previous games as well.”