Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has revealed his opinion on showboating which was evident in the second half in their 3-0 win over Djabal.
Pirates advanced to the 2nd preliminary round of the CAF Champions League qualifiers with a 4-0 aggregate win over the Comoros league champions as Zakhele Lepasa netted a brace and Patrick Maswanganyi opened his account for the club.
But as they enjoyed an unassailable lead, some aspects of showboating synonymous with the club began to creep in which he stated he has no problem with, provided it’s beneficial and hands his side an attacking advantage.
“Whatever I say is a headline, it’s a tricky one,” Riveiro said when asked about his opinion on showboating.
“I’m the foreigner here. I mean I have to, you know… It’s something cultural in a way. I think everything in football is fine as long as it’s useful to gain meters, eliminate players, [in order] to feed the next player in the next [attacking] line, and everything is okay.
“Bicycles, step on the ball, but we [must have] purpose, if we do it only for the sake of doing, I don’t know… but, it is what it is – what can I say, I don’t want to give you a headline.
“The technical tricks in football are beautiful to see but again, with a purpose, you eliminate somebody? It’s fine, you lose the ball, it’s not fine, not at all – but we don’t like to lose the ball and we don’t want to lose time.
“The way we try to play, we manage to do it sometimes, sometimes not, but trust me, we want to go to the goals, we want to get to the goal as soon as possible, in control, not kicking the ball to the box. But we want to progress as quickly as possible, we like to play with speed.
“But sometimes, if we step on the ball too much, we going against that speed, that’s the thing.”
Pirates now await the winner of Jwaneng Galaxy and Vipers for their next clash in Africa’s elite club competition.
