Smiso Msomi
AmaZulu head coach Pablo Franco Martin has admitted to the difficulty of keeping his team mentally sharp as clubs wait for the commencement of the 2024/25 Betway Premiership season.
Despite the MTN8 already being in full swing, the start of the league campaign has been heavily delayed this season with the change of sponsors said to be a key factor.
At least eight teams from the top flight will get their first taste of competitive action on September 14 when the first round of fixtures gets under way, meaning clubs will have had at least 12 weeks of pre-season work.
The Usuthu head coach, who is coming into his second season with the club, is one of the coaches under scrutiny going into the new campaign.
🐉🟢⚪️ We are pleased to announce the appointment of Vusumuzi Vilakazi as our new Diski Team Head Coach for the 2024/2025 season 🗞️
— AmaZulu FC (@AmaZuluFootball) August 15, 2024
READ MORE: https://t.co/duJW0DL6yZ 📲#Isagila#HebeUsuthu#UsuthuTogether pic.twitter.com/3RPa6ol28L
The former Real Madrid assistant coach guided the club to an 11th-place finish last time out and missed out on a top-eight spot by just two points but is expected to ensure progression in the coming season.
Those ambitions have now been disrupted by the league’s delay but Martin is confident his team can adapt.
“I think the biggest challenge is for players to go such a long period without playing official games, which is what they like the most. For me as a coach, it is strange because it is the first time in my life I am going for two pre-seasons, but we are adapting to the situation by being positive and taking advantage of this extra time to prepare even better for the team,” he told Independent Newspapers.
“The way we are training and the guys are pushing every single day is making us stronger individually and collectively so we are looking forward to achieving great things this season.”
🚨 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐎𝐎𝐍 🚨
The countdown to the start of the #BetwayPrem is on!
Here are the fixtures for the opening weekend of the season 👇 pic.twitter.com/YPptk7OaBp
The Durban-based outfit will have to navigate a tricky opening five games of the season that will include matches against Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.
AmaZulu will raise the curtain against Polokwane City and that match will be followed by clashes against Chiefs, Marumo Gallants, Pirates and then Chippa United (their game week two fixture against Sekhukhune was postponed due to CAF commitments).
Martin expressed that he expected the first five matches to demand a lot of his team physically because of the lengthy break but is upbeat about their chances of getting the season off to a good start.
“We know that in the PSL all the games are really difficult. The only difference between the first five fixtures and the rest is that we will face a strange situation as we have stopped for such a long period without playing competitive games.
“We are very confident because the team is doing amazing in pre-season, improving a lot compared with last season when we couldn’t win in the first games as we were still building from scratch.
“Now we are much more ready to start because we are building from the work we did last season and we also know how important it is to collect points from the beginning. We will play offensively to go for victories from day one.”