Smiso Msomi
AmaZulu head coach Pablo Franco Martin has moved to defend Veli Mothwa after the goalkeeper took the spotlight again with a shocking blunder that saw his team lose their opening game of the season.
The 33-year-old shot-stopper dropped what seemed a routine catch in the 91st minute of the game, only for Polokwane City’s Tholo Matuludi to pounce and snatch a 2-1 win for his side at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday.
This latest error from Mothwa comes right after another howler in the colours of Bafana Bafana just over a week ago.
Having been taken out of the firing line by Hugo Broos in Bafana’s second game against South Sudan, Mothwa returned to goal for his club, where he is also club captain, and now has to deal with further backlash – with many questioning his place both at club and national level.
Speaking to the media after the match in Limpopo, Martin revealed that Mothwa was not the only one to make an error in that encounter and suggested he might be unlucky to be scrutinised the way he was.
He also said that Mothwa has the full support of his teammates and that would not change.
“One of the positive things is that we are a team, so we win together and lose together; when a player makes a mistake, the other players are hugging him and trying to encourage him," he said.
Veli Mothwa with a huge mistake 😯
— SuperSport Football ⚽️ (@SSFootball) September 14, 2024
His error hands all three points to Polokwane City 😫#BetwayPrem | @Betway_za pic.twitter.com/iQ8BFQJCQX
“It was not the mistake of the game and luckily we are not doing the same to players that are missing clear goal scoring chances. Maybe if we converted two of the chances we had, maybe that last mistake makes it a 3-2 game and nobody would be talking in these terms now. The game cannot be won or lost because of a single action.”
Many would have suggested that Usuthu were the more likely team to grab the winner in the latter stages of the game, given their monopoly of ball possession and advances towards goal.
AmaZulu also saw their off-season arrival Etiosa Ighodaro score a goal on debut, but Martin admitted it was very hard to celebrate the Nigerian’s achievement given the final result on the day.
#BetwayPrem - RESULT:
— Official PSL (@OfficialPSL) September 14, 2024
Polokwane City score an added-time winner as they pick up maximum points against @AmaZuluFootball. pic.twitter.com/epdivCmMNq
“Sure, it’s a goal, but here we want players to score goals to collect points, and here when you’ve lost it is difficult to take the positive, even if you played (well) the whole game and dominated most of the game, creating more goal-scoring chances. I think when we watch the game back, we’ll go for those positive things and build from there, but today the sensation is very sour,” he expressed.
Martin and his men will have an opportunity to register their first points of the season when they welcome an upbeat Kaizer Chiefs to the Moses Mabhida Stadium on the 25th.
