AmaZulu FC head coach Romain Folz doesn’t deem his side as underdogs in their face off against Orlando Pirates FC in the MTN8 final on Saturday. Usuthu knocked Kaizer Chiefs out of the competition in the semi-finals to advance to the final, while the Buccaneers eliminated Mamelodi Sundowns to reach this stage.
This past weekend, Folz scooped his maiden win at the 10th attempt since he arrived in South Africa, when his troops saw off Stellenbosch FC 1-0 in the DStv Premiership. On the other hand, Ezimnyama Ngenkani surprisingly lost 1-0 to Kaizer Chiefs in the league match on Saturday.
Both Folz and Pirates coach Jose Riveiro, will be playing their first finals in South Africa, and are looking to decorate their CVs with the MTN8 glory. ‘Fohloza’ says they know what to expect from the Soweto giants, having already played them in the league match.
“I don’t know if we are underdogs or not,” Folz said in his MTN8 final pre-match press conference at the Kings Park Outer Field.
“As I told you, it’s gonna be a game between two very good teams, I’ll be very honest saying that what happens on their side in their previous game is their matter not mine.
“I’d like to focus on what we have to do, obviously it doesn’t mean we’re not looking at what they are doing. We try to analyse how they play, the different variations in their shape that they might have and the style of play they have which we know from the last time we played them and today there’s not too many changes.
“There’s a few tricks here and there they’ve added but I wouldn’t say we’re favourites or underdogs, I think we are here because we deserve to be here and we didn’t steal anyone’s spot.
“It’s gonna be a matter of giving our best like we always do, and as I always say, if we deserve to win that game, we will win it.”
The match will be played on Saturday at the sold-out Moses Mabhida Stadium, with kick-off set for 18:00.
