Uthongathi coach warns players against individual brilliance ahead of Pirates tie

It has somehow become a norm in South African football for a lack of a better word smaller teams to rise above the bar when they go up against so called big teams, but this is something Uthongathi FC coach Pitso Dladla is not fond of ahead of their clash with Orlando Pirates.

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The GladAfrica Championship side is set to meet the Buccaneers in the last 32 round of the Nedbank Cup at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday.

Dladla reveals that he has seen a different energy from his players at training as they prepare for the tie against Pirates and this is something he has to fix before game day.

“I’m seeing different energies from players. They want to play, they are eager to play and they are starting to become individuals rather than team players. I’ve already seen this and I said we have to monitor these energies,” said Dladla.

“This desire should not be for individual games. Yes, we like individual brilliance where individual players influence the result of the game, they win the game for the team. But we remain a team, it should be about teamwork. It’s something that we have to deal with now, we must control these energies. I see it in training and I hope by the time we play on Saturday we would have managed to have come up with something to control it.”

While Uthongathi have a full week of training since their last game on Saturday, Bucs had a league match against Golden Arrows on Tuesday, which they lost 2-0.

Pirates have already won the first cup of the season after clinching the MTN8 earlier this campaign and the Ke Yona Cup will offer them an opportunity to make it two trophies in one season.

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