Chippa United head coach Kwanele Kopo has applauded his players’ effort and fighting spirit despite their 2-0 defeat to AmaZulu in the Betway Premiership.
First-half goals by Hendrick Ekstein and Celimpilo Ngema propelled Usuthu to their first league win of the season against the Chilli Boys at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Tuesday night.
The three points lifted AmaZulu to 15th position on the table, while Chippa dropped to fifth place with 10 points from seven matches.
Kopo said the Chilli Boys went into the fixture well aware that taking on a struggling AmaZulu side would not be a walk in the park.
Chippa were coming off a 2-0 victory over Golden Arrows at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday night.
A win over Usuthu would have vaulted then into second place on the log but it was not to be.
“I think when we were planning for this game, we knew that AmaZulu is a possession-based team and expected that they would come at us,” Kopo said.
“In the prematch TV interview, I said that this will probably be our toughest game because of the mindset of the AmaZulu players in light of the position they are in.
“Also, the mindset from our players in terms of a response to that reaction from AmaZulu.
“So, in the first half, you could see from the line-up of AmaZulu, with Ngema, Ekstein, [Tshepang] Moremi, and [Rowan] Human behind [Etiosa] Ighodaro.
“From the start, we played with two strikers and I felt that we struggled to apply pressure on the ball.
“We wanted to apply medium pressure, to not get drawn out, because we don’t have the quickest [players] at the back, so we were just so isolated in the midfield.
“I felt that Andile Jali and Ayabulela Konqobe were so isolated and hence AmaZulu had more of a field day there in the 20-30 minutes and they scored two good goals.
“After those two goals, maybe we had a few half-chances.
“Eva Nga had a clear chance where at least he needed to put it on target, and we had a few crosses that we missed in the box.
“In the second half, we felt that we needed to play on the front foot — when you are 2-0 down you can’t be sitting and shifting.
“So, we went on a straight 4-3-3 with two attacking midfielders.
“We took out AJ [Jali]. We felt the speed of the game was too fast for him.”
Kopo believes the changes he made in the second half enlivened the team, making them more aggressive, but despite their efforts his troops struggled to convert their chances.
“We took out Eva Nga. He started every single game this season, maybe he was running out of legs.
“And we took out Aphelele Teto because he was struggling.
“Athenkosi Dlala, Craig Martin and Gadiel Kamagi came in and it looked positive.
“We became more aggressive, and we were able to hold on to the ball more.
“We applied high pressure — AmaZulu were not able to come out the same way they did in the first half and they could only catch us [on the] counter in the second half.
“With all the possession and with all the attacks we struggled in the final third to get a clear chance.
“The quality of our crosses from the wide areas was poor the whole game.”
HeraldLIVE
Kopo applauds players despite AmaZulu loss
Soccer reporter
Image: VELI NHLAPO
Chippa United head coach Kwanele Kopo has applauded his players’ effort and fighting spirit despite their 2-0 defeat to AmaZulu in the Betway Premiership.
First-half goals by Hendrick Ekstein and Celimpilo Ngema propelled Usuthu to their first league win of the season against the Chilli Boys at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Tuesday night.
The three points lifted AmaZulu to 15th position on the table, while Chippa dropped to fifth place with 10 points from seven matches.
Kopo said the Chilli Boys went into the fixture well aware that taking on a struggling AmaZulu side would not be a walk in the park.
Chippa were coming off a 2-0 victory over Golden Arrows at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday night.
A win over Usuthu would have vaulted then into second place on the log but it was not to be.
“I think when we were planning for this game, we knew that AmaZulu is a possession-based team and expected that they would come at us,” Kopo said.
“In the prematch TV interview, I said that this will probably be our toughest game because of the mindset of the AmaZulu players in light of the position they are in.
“Also, the mindset from our players in terms of a response to that reaction from AmaZulu.
“So, in the first half, you could see from the line-up of AmaZulu, with Ngema, Ekstein, [Tshepang] Moremi, and [Rowan] Human behind [Etiosa] Ighodaro.
“From the start, we played with two strikers and I felt that we struggled to apply pressure on the ball.
“We wanted to apply medium pressure, to not get drawn out, because we don’t have the quickest [players] at the back, so we were just so isolated in the midfield.
“I felt that Andile Jali and Ayabulela Konqobe were so isolated and hence AmaZulu had more of a field day there in the 20-30 minutes and they scored two good goals.
“After those two goals, maybe we had a few half-chances.
“Eva Nga had a clear chance where at least he needed to put it on target, and we had a few crosses that we missed in the box.
“In the second half, we felt that we needed to play on the front foot — when you are 2-0 down you can’t be sitting and shifting.
“So, we went on a straight 4-3-3 with two attacking midfielders.
“We took out AJ [Jali]. We felt the speed of the game was too fast for him.”
Kopo believes the changes he made in the second half enlivened the team, making them more aggressive, but despite their efforts his troops struggled to convert their chances.
“We took out Eva Nga. He started every single game this season, maybe he was running out of legs.
“And we took out Aphelele Teto because he was struggling.
“Athenkosi Dlala, Craig Martin and Gadiel Kamagi came in and it looked positive.
“We became more aggressive, and we were able to hold on to the ball more.
“We applied high pressure — AmaZulu were not able to come out the same way they did in the first half and they could only catch us [on the] counter in the second half.
“With all the possession and with all the attacks we struggled in the final third to get a clear chance.
“The quality of our crosses from the wide areas was poor the whole game.”
HeraldLIVE
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