AmaZulu have made a first step in replacing coach Brandon Truter as the club management have approached Ernst Middendorp, iDiski Times has learnt.
Truter parted ways with Usuthu on Thursday after the Durban-based side lost 1-0 to provincial rivals Richards Bay FC at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Wednesday.
It was Usuthu’s fourth loss in the last five DStv Premiership matches, which saw them drop to ninth on the log table, having been fourth before the match. That left Usuthu management fuming as they have big ambitions this season.
The club’s ambition is to finish within the top four and win one trophy. They could take a massive step towards adding silverware before the FIFA World Cup break, as AmaZulu host Kaizer Chiefs, Middendorp’s former club, the second leg of the MTN8 semi-final at the Moses Mabhida Stadium later this month.
Usuthu have a slender lead going to the second leg, after earning a 1-1 draw against Amakhosi last weekend.
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Middendorp is currently clubless after leaving Maritzburg United at the end of last season, when he was replaced by John Maduka, who is also under pressure to change the team’s fortunes. Usuthu made contact with Middendorp to sound him out over potentially replacing Truter, this publication understands.
The German tactician has also been linked with the Maritzburg post, which he has been in charge for the fourth time. But it doesn’t look like he will take a job now because he also want to challenge for the league and win cup trophies.
He feels AmaZulu meet his own ambition, looking at the depth the squad has. Middendorp, throughout his career in the PSL with a close to 400 matches in charge – more than any other foreign coach, has won only two trophies, namely the ABSA Cup and SAA Super 8.
All of them came in 2006. Impressively, they were won in Durban at Kings Park Stadium – the venue that is just a stone throw away from Moses Mabhida Stadium, which is the home ground of AmaZulu.
Story by Robin-Duke Madlala (@duke_robin).
