NEWS
Riveiro – The Game Was Ugly
Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has described the 1-1 draw against Chippa at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Tuesday as “ugly”, saying they struggled to find fluency because the game was broken up by the opposition most of the time.
Unlike against Sekhukhune United in the MTN8 quarter-final over the weekend, Pirates laboured and could not find their game that has been a hallmark to put teams on the back foot.
While it was not going well like against Sekhukhune, they still pinned Chippa into their half and the breakthrough came when Bandile Shandu stuck his leg out to meet a cross from rising star Relebohile Mofokeng in the 24th minute.
Pirates kept on knocking in Chippa’s half to get the second, but they could not make add onto the scoreline, while the home side’s strong point was to catch them on the counter.
In one of their rare moments in the penalty area, Goodman Mosele, on loan from Pirates, turned in the box and fired a powerful shot at the far post in the 65th minute for the equaliser.
Desperately, Pirates tried to get back on the front foot in the game but Chippa, having added the speed up top, hung on and that worked in their favour as Pirates were worried at the back.
“From my perspective, it was an ugly game, very,” said Riveiro after the match.
“With a lot of interruptions, with so many emotions, with not so much football. 1-1, one point for each, they celebrate, we don’t and we move to the next one.”
When Riveiro was asked, if they were some sort of complacency creeping in his side, he said they couldn’t find their ways due to so many disruptions, which ended up breaking the rhythm.
“A difficult game, two lines very compact, no spaces,” he explained.
“I will repeat myself but this is very true – you feel the game is under control but it is not because you need to expose yourself in order to create advantage.”
He said Chippa’s intentions were not to play but to try to catch his side on the counter.
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“They only need to steal the balls and run behind you in one transition, so the game was on the edge,” he added.
“We managed to get the lead, the game was under control, the second half had a lot of interruptions. Even in the first half, there were too many interruptions, I don’t know.
“I will try to be polite, we just couldn’t find continuity. Every time we find advantage in half spaces like Patrick Maswanganyi for example in the first half, the game is interrupted.”
Pirates now switch their focus to the CAF Champions League, where they will face Djabal Club from Comoros in the first preliminary round – first away from home on Friday.
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