AmaZulu coach Arthur Zwane says his side missed a big opportunity with their shock elimination from the Nedbank Cup on Saturday, and maybe some of their players felt beating Casric Stars would be an easy task.
Instead, the second-tier team upset AmaZulu 2-1 in extra time at the Moses Mabhida Stadium to advance to the semifinals.
“It's a big miss,” said Zwane about a competition in which they were among the top clubs left in the field after the early exit of holders Kaizer Chiefs, league champions Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates.
AmaZulu were heavily fancied to get the better of Casric Stars but maybe paid a price for complacency, the coach suggested.
“I always say, I’d rather play a PSL team than a first division team, especially after playing against two PSL teams in the earlier rounds that were very difficult teams to beat.”
AmaZulu won away at Polokwane City and Richards Bay in the previous two rounds.
“Once you go up against a team that comes from the first division, some of our players probably thought, ‘this one will be easy. We beat Polokwane City away from home, Richards Bay away from home, and now they're coming to us; we're going to the semifinals’.
“That's where you come unstuck, because you think you’ve won the game before it even starts. Why? Because of experience, you know? When I say experience, most of our boys have never been in this situation. They think things just become easy, they just happen.”
“Unfortunately, this is a big wake-up call because this is a big miss for us. It shows that we’re not ready, because we have no business to lose,” added Zwane.