Photo Credit - Orlando Pirates Media.
Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro was left impressed with how his players took the penalties which enabled them to beat SuperSport United and qualify for the semi-finals of the Nedbank Cup on Saturday.
In a pulsating quarter-final contest at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium, Pirates edged out Matsatsantsa 5-4 in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw over 120 minutes.
During the penalties, SuperSport’s Lebohang Maboe and Bradley Grobler scored, and were matched by Pirates' Deon Hotto and Tapelo Xoki. However, Vincent Pule’s miss handed Pirates the advantage, and though SuperSport’s Nyiko Mobbie and Oratilwe Moloisane kept them alive, Christian Saile’s saved effort proved decisive.
Goodman Mosele stepped up for Pirates, sending his effort into the top right corner to seal the win. Speaking afterward, Riveiro admitted the fixture could have gone either way when it reached penalties, but his players composed themselves well to do a good job.
“It’s one of the possibilities in a knockout game, there’s only two possible results in these types of games, if you cannot make it in the 120 minutes, you have to go to penalties and do your best,” Riveiro said as quoted by idiskitimes. “We did good job in that space, and again happy to be in the semi-finals.”
He continued: “It’s his role in the penalty shoot-out, he has to stay there between the posts and try to catch at least one more than the opponent, he’s been doing well in that scenario in recent occasions in penalties.”
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