“I think it’s a fantastic gift for him,” said the Pirates coach.
Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has reacted to Mbekezeli Mbokazi’s nomination for the 2025 CAF Young Player of the Year award.
The 20-year-old defender, who has established himself as an important figure in the heart of Pirates defence this season, has been nominated for the prestigious award alongside South African Under-20 and Queens Park Rangers defender Tylon Smith.
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“I think it’s a fantastic gift for him. It’s a fantastic gift not only for him, but the club as well, we don’t have to forget he is representing Orlando Pirates and for me as an ex-central defender, of course I’m proud of him,” added Ouaddou before offering his advice to the young defender.
“The advice I can give him is to keep believing your nice potential and to be very humble and to keep working because football goes quickly on the two sides.
“You can go very high but you can go down quickly as well. So, respect football and football will respect you and it’s the advice I give to my players.”
Pirates need their ’12th man’
Meanwhile, has made an impassioned plea to the club supporters to fill the Orlando Stadium on Saturday,
Ouaddou’s Pirates will face DRC’s Saint-Eloi Lupopo in the second leg of the CAF Champions League second round at the venue (kick-off is at 3pm).
Having lost the first leg 3-0 in Lubumbashi last weekend, the Buccaneers need to score four unanswered goals in order to advance to the group stages of the competition.
“We need them [the fans]. In this kind of game on Saturday, we need the 12th man behind us. I hope the stadium will be packed because they have to push us.
“It will be an important game in the history of the club. We know that we need to score four goals but it will not be easy, but we will prepare for that,” said Ouaddou after his side’s 1-0 victory over Polokwane City at the same venue on Wednesday night.
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Lupopo conceded three goals in their last two visits to South Africa, but managed to score on each occasion. They lost 3-2 to Marumo Gallants in a CAF Confederation Cup clash in April 2023 and also suffered a 3-1 defeat to Sekhukhune United that same year. So it remains to be seen if Pirates will score the required number of goals and also keep a clean sheet against them.