AmaZulu’s utility player Wayde Jooste has warned that having defeated TS Galaxy in the league match this season doesn’t translate to the result being the same when they host Sead Ramovic’s club in the Carling Knockout semifinal at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Sunday.
Usuthu beat Sead Ramovic’s side 1-0 at the 2010 World Cup venue in Durban at the end of August when former Galaxy striker Augustine Kwem netted the only goal.
“I don’t think two games are going to be the same,” said Jooste, who joined Usuthu after leaving Maritzburg United at the end of last season.
“Whether you played the same team once or twice, the games are not going to be same. As much as we are analyzing other teams, other teams are also analyzing us, so must challenge and transform in a certain way because they have been watching us in the past two games knowing for a while now that they were going to play against us in the semifinal.”
Jooste has been in this position before and has gone on to reach three finals in his career – losing two and winning the other.
He lost the MTN8 with Highlands against SuperSport United in the 2019/20 season and won the same competition with Orlando Pirates in the following season. He was at Pirates when they lost the CAF Confederation Cup to Moroccan side RSB Berkane in the 2021/22 season.
That experience is something he will draw from, alongside other Usuthu players who lost the MTN8 final last season to Pirates.
“Some of us have been in this position before,” said Jooste. “We are experienced within the team, we helped each other.”
Usuthu, unlike Galaxy, face Sead Ramovic’s team having lost their record of being unbeaten at home, losing to another Carling Cup semi-finalist Stellenbosch FC over the weekend at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.
On the other hand, Galaxy crushed Polokwane City 3-0 on Sunday. However, this has not dented the preparation and the morale within Usuthu’s camp.
“You can hear in the changing room, that the mood is still the same, everyone is happy,” said Jooste on the intimacies of where they are as a team.
“You are not going to win every game, so it is how you get up from that experience.”
