AmaZulu FC City will begin their 2024/25 Betway Premiership season with a match against Polokwane City at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday.
Kick-off is at 8:00 pm CAT.
Usuthu were not involved in this season’s MTN8 and were defeated 3-1 by Lamontville Golden Arrows on 25 May in their last league game of the 2023/24 campaign.
The defeat to Arrows ended Usuthu’s three-match unbeaten run in the league having registered two consecutive draws and a victory which came against Sekhukhune United.
“We are expecting a challenging beginning of the season. Not only because we all know that in PSL, the games are really difficult and competitive,” AmaZulu coach Pablo Franco Martin said.
“But because of this extended pre-season. The biggest challenge we will have, especially for players after such a long period of time without playing official games, is to know how they will be prepared and how they will react when they need to face competition again.
“So, the idea now is to try to collect points from the very beginning, so we will play offensively, and we will try to go for victories from day one, so we can achieve great things this season.”
Meanwhile, Polokwane have been inactive since they were narrowly defeated by Mamelodi Sundowns in the MTN8 quarter-finals on 11 August – losing 1-0 in extra-time.
Rise and Shine are undefeated in their last five league matches having recorded four successive draws and one victory which came against TS Galaxy at the end of last season.
Both AmaZulu and Polokwane have no suspension concerns coming into this encounter.
Head-to-Head
LAST 10 LEAGUE RESULTS
Season Result Scorers
2014/15 Polokwane 2-2 AmaZulu Nyundu (pen), Horaeb (og); Mwape 2 (1 pen)
2014/15 AmaZulu 2-0 Polokwane G. Dlamini, Ntuli
2017/18 AmaZulu 2-3 Polokwane Manzini, Cele; Ravhuhali, Musona, Ramagalela
2017/18 Polokwane 0-0 AmaZulu
2018/19 AmaZulu 0-0 Polokwane
2018/19 Polokwane 3-2 AmaZulu Booi, Musona 2; Ntuli, Sithebe
2019/20 Polokwane1-0 AmaZulu Anas
2019/20 AmaZulu 1-0 Polokwane Ntuli
2023/24 Polokwane 0-0 AmaZulu
2023/24 AmaZulu 0-0 Polokwane
LEAGUE RECORD (since 2013/14)
Home
P W D L GF GA
Polokwane 6 2 4 0 7 5
AmaZulu 6 3 2 1 6 3
Away
P W D L GF GA
Polokwane 6 1 2 3 3 6
AmaZulu 6 0 4 2 5 7
Total
P W D L GF GA
Polokwane 12 3 6 3 10 11
AmaZulu 12 3 6 3 11 10
“The expectations are high…we set the bar very high last season. So this season, we can’t afford to miss out on the top eight finish,” Polokwane coach Phuti Mohafe said.
“We should improve from last season and that means we aim to finish seventh, at least. Watch out for Polokwane City this season. In fact, we don’t see ourselves below number eight on the table by the end of the season.
“Failing to remain in the top eight would mean we have failed as a team… we need to progress. We need to make sure we start the season well because it’s very important to gain momentum very early so that it will push us.”
