Orlando Pirates put sharp focus on finishing ahead of Namibia trip

Orlando Pirates have put sharp focus on finishing during their preparations for the Caf Champions League first round clash against Namibian upstarts Africa Sports at the Sam Nujoma Stadium on Saturday.

The Buccaneers were held to a goalless draw in the first leg last weekend where they squandered countless scoring opportunities and defender Innocent Maela said they cannot afford to fire blanks again in the Namibian capital.

Any scoring draw will be enough to take the Buccaneers to their first Champions League group stages appearance in five years and the Bafana Bafana defender said they are travelling with the sole intention of winning the game.

“In the first leg we missed too many chances which was our downfall.

"The away goals rule favours us to an extent but we want to win the match outright and avoid complications‚” said Maela.

“I believe that with the chances that we created in the first leg‚ we should have won the game by at least two goals.

"Our technical team did their job in preparing us for that match but we did not do what was expected.

"I am not the one to give excuses but it was not our day and hopefully our luck will change this time around because we want to progress to the next stage of the competition.”

Maela expects a tough match in Namibia because Africa Sports showed at Orlando Stadium last weekend that they like to play football and they will benefit from their home supporters.

“They are a well coached team who have the slight advantage of playing in front of their own supporters‚" he said.

"But we are capable of going away from home and coming back with the result.

"We have a number of players who have experience of playing on the continent and the same goes to our coaches who have seen it all on the continent.”

In the Confederation Cup‚ Kaizer Chiefs are away from home to Madagascan side Elgeco Plus at the Stade Municipal de Mahamasina in Antananarivo where they are comfortably leading the tie 3-0 from the first leg.