Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has given the reasons behind the team’s impressive run of form in recent matches.
Pirates are finally gelling, playing good football and getting maximum results week in, week out.
The Soweto giants are currently in their best form under coach Riveiro. They are on a seven-match winning streak in all competitions.
On Saturday, 22 April, they fought back to defeat Cape Town City at Orlando Stadium. They are in the driving seat to sealing a spot in the CAF Champions League next season, occupying the second spot.
In addition, Pirates are in the semi-finals of the Nedbank Cup and have already won a trophy this season; the MTN8 title.
PIRATES PLAYERS RAISING THEIR HANDS
According to Riveiro, the players are showing character and desire to help the team.
“The key is the players want [to win], and they want to do that every game. They are making my life difficult to select the 20 [match day squad], to select the [starting]11 because we have many players ready to perform,” said Riveiro.
“[It’s] good for us. We are going to the last part of the season in a very good moment. We feel very confident and strong at the moment.
“I want to find myself every season in this moment of the season fighting for important things for the possibility to get more titles for this club. We embrace the moment, we really want to stay in this moment for as much as possible.”
RIVEIRO ANTICIPATES DIFFICULT MATCHES AHEAD
Despite a good run, Riveiro anticipates difficult matches ahead, but insists the team will continue to fight till the end.
“We feel we’re a group that want to achieve something together, that motivation will put us till the end,” he added.
“We cannot guarantee we going to get every result every single week, but it’s a fact that we going to fight until the end to get what we want.
“It’s difficult to deal with a tight schedule if the results are bad and you’re not optimistic about facing the next one.”
Pirates’ remaining matches of the season are against TS Galaxy [A], Royal AM [H], Kaizer Chiefs [A, Nedbank Cup], Sekhukhune United [H] and AmaZulu [A].