Riveiroball success bodes well for Pirates
Riveiro made a serious case for himself. Admittedly, he made doubters like this writer eat humble pie.
I’ve had to eat humble pie in the last seven days since the last column. Orlando Pirates and their coach José Riveiro are the reason for that, after pulling the rabbit out of the hat in the manner that they did in the MTN8.
Last Saturday’s 3-0 thrashing of Mamelodi Sundowns in their semi-final second leg in Polokwane was as unexpected as it was spectacular.
Pirates were brilliant in their pragmatism. Unlike in that spectacle that was the first leg, they opted to sit back and let Sundowns have the ball after having drawn first blood early in the first half.
The early goal was a sucker punch because it effectively counted for two goals, with Sundowns having not scored away from home.
Having to chase the game, Sundowns would of course have wanted to have the ball for long spells and it was in that situation that Pirates thrived.
Their counter-attack was deadly and their defence very solid. The approach and the impeccable execution said a lot about the coaching that had gone into preparing for the game.
Riveiro made a serious case for himself. Admittedly, he made doubters like this writer eat humble pie.
Being announced as the new head coach at the start of the season without having the profile that one would expect of a Pirates coach, I doubted that it was the right choice.
Especially because so many of his fellow European predecessors had failed at the Buccaneers.
But the man seems to have a clue. It’s also what he said in his post-match press conference that convinces me of this.
It was when he was asked what he thought was the difference between his side and Sundowns on the day that he gave a compelling answer.
“It’s not about how good your players are or how good your team is, it’s about how good can you be here tonight, in front of 45 000 spectators.
“So, control the emotions; always grab the plan and let your emotions play for you in different moments. Be stable; don’t make mistakes, make sure that we don’t play with ten players – these types of things that sometimes in these types of games can happen.”
Having criticized the Pirates’ style of play for lacking goals, I can see that that’s now a thing of the past.
This should be their start to being a true giant of the Premier Soccer League once again. It should also help them easily win tomorrow’s Soweto derby against struggling Kaizer Chiefs.
