“But you need to play those guys when they are ready to make an affect and have continuity, not just hope that something is going to happen. We need to help those guys have a long career.”
Riveiro said he will play academy products when he feels they are ready for the step up.
“It is not that easy to say let’s play them and see what happens. As a philosophy I don’t care so much if a player is 18, 20 or 30, as long as I feel that he can be helpful for the future of the club.
“They need to be prepared, otherwise it is just be about looking for a personal record and I am not looking for that.”
Third-placed Pirates (34 points) will be out to make ground on SuperSport (39) on Saturday evening (5.45pm).
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Riveiro says he’ll play Orlando Pirates’ youngsters when they are ready
Image: Sydney Mahlangu/BackpagePix
Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro says he will not play youngsters for optics and numbers but when they are ready to make an affect for the club and provide continuity.
This after Mamelodi Sundowns counterpart Rulani Mokwena handed a debut to 16-year-old Siyabonga Mabena to follow in the footsteps of Thando Buthelezi, Ntando Nkosi and Jerome Karelse as teen players who got their debuts for the Brazilians this season.
“As a European, age nowadays is not a problem any more and the reason is the level of knowledge of the game by players who are 17, 18 years old,” Riveiro said as Pirates prepared to meet SuperSport United at Orlando Stadium in a key DStv Premiership match for second place on Saturday.
“It is about sport education and how to become a professional footballer, how early they start to live like a professional football player in elite academies. Here we have differences between the teams at academies.
“We are trying to do things so that players can arrive [in the senior team] at 17, 18 and 19 years old and be well prepared to take the step without any doubt or being afraid of failure.
“It is easy to make numbers, it is easy to play players and for me as a coach I also want to play youngsters every time when the result is [secured], to get the numbers and say Riveiro is pushing youngsters.
“But you need to play those guys when they are ready to make an affect and have continuity, not just hope that something is going to happen. We need to help those guys have a long career.”
Riveiro said he will play academy products when he feels they are ready for the step up.
“It is not that easy to say let’s play them and see what happens. As a philosophy I don’t care so much if a player is 18, 20 or 30, as long as I feel that he can be helpful for the future of the club.
“They need to be prepared, otherwise it is just be about looking for a personal record and I am not looking for that.”
Third-placed Pirates (34 points) will be out to make ground on SuperSport (39) on Saturday evening (5.45pm).
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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