{"id":5002,"date":"2011-11-02T16:22:51","date_gmt":"2011-11-02T14:22:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/11\/my-admiration-increases-for-maritzburg-united\/"},"modified":"2011-11-02T16:22:51","modified_gmt":"2011-11-02T14:22:51","slug":"my-admiration-increases-for-maritzburg-united","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/my-admiration-increases-for-maritzburg-united\/","title":{"rendered":"My Admiration Increases for Maritzburg United"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On Tuesday evening 1 November, at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Maritzburg United (Team of Choice) held Kaizer Chiefs (Amakhosi) to a goalless draw.<\/p>\n

Before the game the Team of Choice coach, Ian Palmer, said that they would be playing a compact defense game and going back to basics which is certainly what we witnessed on Tuesday evening \u2013 tight defence from 4 defenders, kicks out rather than head to head theatrics, low balls and short passes were the order of the day as Amakhosi were thwarted again and again. The only kicks for goal were from far out and lacklustre at best.<\/p>\n

Over ninety minutes the Team of Choice demonstrated a cohesion and game plan that must surely have built on their recent drubbing (7-0) by Supersport United on 14 October.<\/p>\n

One would think that a 0-0 scoreline would indicate that the footie was boring \u2013 far from it as between the two teams we saw eight great moves ending in shots at goal and the antics of the Team of Choice\u2019s goalkeeper, Walters kept us entertained.<\/p>\n

The discovery that Maritzburg\u2019s right back, Reese Evans, is an almost dead ringer for my son also was a bit of a pleasant surprise. A sportswriter from Maritzburg, after seeing our son, Philip, walking in with us asked the Longhair and I if we were Reece Evans\u2019 parents so uncanny is the resemblance between Reese and Philip. Of course Philip has impeccable genes passed on from a beautiful mother and brainy father! THIS, surely gives the Team of Choice an even greater reason (apart from financial considerations) to make Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium their home base going forward. Reece Evans (16) plays right back for Maritzburg United.<\/p>\n

Of Maritzburg United\u2019s (presently 8th in the log) three victories in nine Premiership fixtures thus far at their favoured 15 000 seat home venue, the Harry Gwala Stadium stadium one was against a team higher on the log \u2013 Pirates (presently 5th) \u2013 whilst the other two victories were against teams lower on the log than Maritzburg \u2013 Platinum Stars (presently 10th) and Golden Arrows (presently 15th).<\/p>\n

In the light of Maritzburg\u2019s poor 7-0 loss against the top team in the log followed by holding Amakhosi (presently 2nd) to a goalless draw at the Neslon Mandela Bay Stadium AND in light of the poor local support of the Team of Choice\u00a0 one can only conclude that playing at the NMB Stadium was the RIGHT choice for Maritzburg.<\/p>\n

Maritzburg United\u2019s performance in the PSL:<\/strong><\/p>\n