Jose Riveiro - Photo Courtesy Orlando Pirates Media.
Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has warned his players to stay focused as they seek to qualify to the next stage of the Caf Champions League.
Pirates brushed Stade d’Abidjan aside, beating them 3-0 on Saturday to climb to the summit of Group C in the Champions League. It was a must-win fixture at Orlando Stadium for the hosts, who had slipped out of the qualification spots for the next round after the earlier result in the group.
Relebohile Mofokeng scored the opener for Pirates after being teed up by Mohau Nkota, who did well to eliminate goalkeeper Drissa Bamba from the equation before laying the pass. The second goal was courtesy of Maswanganyi, who showed excellent skill in breaking free of his marker with a clever turn before expertly placing the ball beyond Bamba’s reach.
An intercept on the halfway line initiated a superb solo effort from Deon Hotto, made his way towards the Abidjan penalty area before finishing past Bamba to make it 3-0 with four minutes remaining before the final whistle.
“We have two more games to play, it is in our hands now to find ourselves in the top eight but still a lot of things to do, it is not done yet, not even close, we still have to play two tough games but today we proved we can compete in a good way with everybody one more time, it is not the first time we did it, the guys have been showing it, it was a good day for Pirates,” Riveiro told Pan-Africa Football.
“I think it was a credible performance from the guys from the first minute to the last whistle, I think the attitude was great, it was an attitude of a team that wanted to do something special, that wanted to keep growing as a team and to keep achieving things together.
“I think they showed from the first minute, the level that they applied themselves especially in the defensive face it is easy to say now that the opponent didn’t create so much but I think it was a good performance because the opponent lacked opportunities in the entire 90 minutes.
“Everybody could see that we managed to play some good football in some important moments of the game, we dominated them in most moments of the game with less difficulties but most of the time today was played in high tempo, a lot of positive things and in the end it is important that we managed to accumulate three more points.”
The win placed the Buccaneers a point ahead of Al Ahly and two adrift from CR Belouizdad with two group games left for each team to play.
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