Riveiro Downplays Derby Absence – iDiski Times

Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has downplayed his absence during Saturday’s Soweto Derby due to being suspended for the match.

The Spaniard was sent off in his side’s 2-0 win over All Stars in the Nedbank Cup and will serve the second game of his two-match suspension.

Pirates enter the game in better form, having won five of their last six games across all competition but Chiefs did beat them in the reverse fixture.

The Buccaneers did win the first game without Riveiro on the sidelines – a 2-1 victory over Maritzburg United – and the 45-year-old insisted his absence will not have much of an impact.

“Unfortunately I’m not going to be there on the bench, where I’m supposed to be,” he said on Thursday.

“But it’s not a big problem for the players and for anybody else nowadays. I have a fantastic support stuff behind me.

“The players at Pirates are used to work with all of our coaches at the same level that they work with me. We all have different roles and they’re used to deal with that situation.

“Like I said one week ago, our influence on the game from the bench, our instructions from the bench in a normal day are not much.

“We try convey some movements and instructions but it’s not easy to contact our players. You can have an idea how easy it is at FNB Stadium with 90,000 spectators to try to communicate with our players.

“We have an opportunity before the game, we have an opportunity at half-time to influence the game development. Unfortunately I cannot be there as well but it’s not an issue.

“In our club the important people are the people who are in the field, the 11 players and they know what to do and they have the capacity to make decision there, so it’s not going to be an issue at all.”

Pirates enter the game with three points ahead of Chiefs and could potentially climb into second place on the log, should they beat their Soweto rivals after four successive league defeats and other results go their way.

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The game kicks off at 15:30 at FNB Stadium on Saturday and tickets are still available on ticketpro.