Photo Credit - Mamelodi Sundowns.
Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has admitted he was not surprised that TS Galaxy managed to beat Mamelodi Sundowns 1-0 in a Betway Premiership fixture at the Mbombela Stadium on Tuesday.
The Brazilians went into the game having hammered Pirates 4-1 but they could not break down a resilient Galaxy side, who eventually won the contest. According to Riveiro, he was not surprised with the outcome because every team in the league gets tough times when playing at Mbombela.
“We all know how difficult it is to go to Mbombela, I think Galaxy last season was the best in home matches after Sundowns, if I’m not mistaken, it’s the same, playing games every, two, three days – teams like us, like Sundowns,” Riviero said as quoted by idiskitimes.
“So having a bad day, is normal, human, it’s acceptable and that’s the competition itself. Every time we play away, all the big teams, fighting for this trophy, must feel that pressure when playing away from home.
“I think having Galaxy in that form, Sekhukhune as well, it was a terrible game for us to play, Polokwane City, hopefully soon some other teams [can hit top form], it’s good for the league, competition and our football.”
He continued: “We know why we lost… and then what happened in the next game against [TS Galaxy] is something we cannot control obviously. I’m not watching the game hoping [Sundowns lose] or going to my phone to check what’s the score every five minutes because there’s nothing, I can do there. I try to just focus on our next games, right now it’s a cup game.”
Riveiro maintained: “The league is a marathon, it’s 30 games, I will say a couple of topics of football, but it’s the truth – there’s good teams right now, teams in good moments of form, for example what happened the other day with Galaxy and Sundowns, for me it’s not a surprise.”
Pirates will shift focus to the Nedbank Cup Round of 16 fixture against Baroka at Orlando Stadium on Saturday.
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