AmaZulu FC will be targeting a spot in the Betway Premiership top eight when they square off with Stellenbosch FC at the King Zwelithini Stadium on Thursday.
Kick-off is at 7:30 pm CAT.
Usuthu snapped a two-match winless run in the league when they claimed a 1-0 victory over Magesi FC away on 11 January and they had registered a draw, and a defeat before facing Dikwena Tsa Meetse.
AmaZulu are occupying the ninth spot in the Betway Premiership standings – three points behind seventh-placed Golden Arrows and a victory over Stellenbosch would see the KZN giants climb up into the top eight.
“AmaZulu are a big team and they don’t deserve to be at the bottom, fighting for survival. The team should be competing for positions one and two, but we are a work in progress. We belong with the best and there’s a lot to expect from this group of players,” AmaZulu co-head coach Arthur Zwane said.
“We are so proud of the guys for coming here [in Polokwane] and getting a positive result [against Magesi]; they gave their all. You could see in the last 20 minutes that they were pushing themselves. However, they showed that mentally they are strong and demonstrated a lot of character.”
Meanwhile, Stellenbosch were hammered 5-0 by RS Berkane in the CAF Confederation Cup away on 19 January and they are also winless in their last three matches in the Betway Premiership.
Stellies are sitting on the eighth spot in the league standings – three points behind seventh-placed Arrows, but Stellenbosch have two games in hand. A win over AmaZulu would elevate Stellies into the top half of the table.
“It is not easy to accept a 5-0 loss but I told the team and the players that these types of games are a learning curve… We have a very important game in the league on Thursday [against AmaZulu] and a cup competition [against Kruger United] back home,” Stellenbosch head coach Steve Barker said.
“So, you know, we played a lot of our players that haven’t been playing a lot, we had six under-23 on the field. It was an opportunity for them to play and I’m sure they’ve learned a lot from it, but we can see the quality of Berkane especially when we gave the ball away in our own defensive third, they are very clinical.”
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Head-to-Head
LAST 10 LEAGUE RESULTS
Season Result Scorers
2019/20 AmaZulu 2-0 Stellenbosch Ntuli 2 (1 pen)
2019/20 Stellenbosch 1-1 AmaZulu Skelem; Maduna
2020/21 AmaZulu 2-1 Stellenbosch Ntuli, Majoro; Van Heerden
2020/21 Stellenbosch 0-1 AmaZulu Qalinge
2021/22 Stellenbosch 2-2 AmaZulu Dimgba, Du Preez; Maduna, Buchanan
2021/22 AmaZulu 2-2 Stellenbosch Ceesay, Sikhakhane; Du Preez, Ortiz
2022/23 AmaZulu 1-0 Stellenbosch Bwalya
2022/23 Stellenbosch 2-0 AmaZulu Rayners, Titus
2023/24 AmaZulu 0-1 Stellenbosch Oura
2023/24 Stellenbosch 0-0 AmaZulu
LEAGUE RECORD (since 2019/20)
Home
P W D L GF GA
AmaZulu 5 3 1 1 7 4
Stellenbosch 5 1 3 1 5 4
Away
P W D L GF GA
AmaZulu 5 1 3 1 4 5
Stellenbosch 5 1 1 3 4 7
Total
P W D L GF GA
AmaZulu 10 4 4 2 11 9
Stellenbosch 10 2 4 4 9 11
