AmaZulu coach Romain Folz and his captain Makhehleni Makhaula looked crushed following the loss to Orlando Pirates in the MTN8 final at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday.
Both individuals, briefing the media at Kings Park Stadium outer field ahead of the Carling Black Label Cup semi-final against Mamelodi Sundowns at FNB Stadium on Saturday, heads were down and both are facing a huge task to improve the dressing room.
Usuthu were in the final of the Wafa Wafa Cup for the first time in the PSL era, but they came short against an experienced Pirates side, who did all they could to win the match.
But Makhaula said they are looking for redemption against Sundowns, who have not played in almost two weeks due to the season having paused due to the FIFA World Cup that is starting later this month in Qatar.
“It could be a chance for us to bounce back,” said Makhaula, who throughout the press conference appeared sad.
“Even if the coach can’t do everything, it might happen that some of us are still left behind because we lost the MTN8.
“We will try to bounce back because we have top players and we need to bounce back because it was sad what happened to us over the weekend. And you can still see that, so I think we will come back okay.”
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It was Makhaula’s second loss in the MTN8 final, having lost it with Highlands Park in the 2019/20 season.
He added: “I’m a fighter. I’ll be alright. Talking about other players, we have a coach who will help us rise up again and we will try to quickly forget about what happened.
“With what you see right now, it will be different story on Saturday.”
Folz, who was reaching the first ever cup final in his coaching career, admitted that the mood was not nice, but the best medicine to overcome the sadness is to bounce back with a big performance.
“Losing is part of the game. You cannot hide here and say ‘because of that, I’m not going to perform’,” said Folz.
“There is no excuse, and I know my team will be strong mentally. I think we will look back on that event in a few weeks, a few months, it will make us strong. In hard times it is when you build some kind of toughness from the team.
“It is not always nice, it is not always easy – sometimes you go through these moments for a reason. I believe this will help us.”
