AmaZulu co-coach’s plea to SA players on critical phases of the game

Until that moment when Usuthu conceded from Iqraam Rayners’ goal, they had played close to 30 minutes with an extra man but failed to capitalize.

But it’s how they conceded the goal, from a set play in the 90th minute, that has Vilakazi worked up.

"But I think there's only one challenge in our South African football which is something that we still need to work with as coaches, all of us. The crucial phases of the game it's something that players are not taking seriously," Vilakazi said.

"Once you enter those four lines I think you need to understand that it's not over up until the fat lady sings. Suffering from crucial phases two minutes left and we suffer and I think irrespective of having a good defensive structure but we've been suffering in terms of silly goals.

“It's either lapse of concentration or a silly goal that we allow the opposition to score. Some other things cannot be rectified overnight obviously, we need to work and make sure that we become better. More repetition will do for us."

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For Sundowns, it was something positive that they managed to score via a set-play at the death but for Usuthu, who had an extra-man on the pitch this doesn’t reflect well. Vilakazi says they could’ve handled this set play better at the back.

"Conceding at the end, it was not an open play so we wouldn't say Sundowns when they were less in numbers were dominating. They were not, it was just a set play where we needed to concentrate and I was just looking at the goal right now, two players were not even aware of Rayners' movement,” the coach added.

“It was very difficult for Ofori to see the ball but as I've said we still need to work in our defensive structure making sure that we concentrate from zero minutes to 90 minutes or plus."