‘Everything is positive’: Pirates coach Riveiro delighted with results of Spain camp

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro believes the team’s Spanish camp has served every purpose in preparing his team to be better in the coming season than their double-winning 2022-2023 campaign.

Pirates rounded off an unbeaten three friendly matches with their 0-0 draw against promoted LaLiga team Las Palmas in Marbella on Wednesday. They won their other two matches — 1-0 against Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and 3-1 against Ecuadorean outfit Independiente Del Valle.

The games, played on training grounds in front of few spectators, were certainly preseason friendlies in nature. However, while they were perhaps a little slow-paced, the games did not seem to lack a level of intensity to test Bucs, especially the matchup against Las Palmas.

The Spanish club were playing their first friendly of their preseason.

“I am happy overall with the performance during the training camp. We had a fantastic opportunity as a South African football club to spend quality time here together, thanks to the club,” Riveiro said.

“At the same time we had the opportunity to play three quality matches where we got the chance to represent Orlando Pirates and South African football. We did it in a professional way with very good performances.

“Everything so far is positive, everything is going well, getting the introduction and adaptation of the new players in the group. Now we’re ready to go back to Joburg with the feeling that little by little we are a better team.”

Riveiro believes the level of concentration needed against high-level opponents, especially in the third match against Las Palmas, who have the precision of a top-flight football club, will stand Bucs in good stead in the DStv Premiership, three cup competitions and Caf Champions League.

Pirates had won one trophy in eight seasons before their MTN8 and Nedbank Cup triumphs under Riveiro last campaign. While they were also runners-up in the Premiership, the 16-point gap from winners Mamelodi Sundowns largely stemmed from dropping unnecessary points.

Riveiro believes the matches in Spain can help improve Bucs’ concentration. That, and the motivation that a squad would surely gain from their club taking a preseason so seriously as to arrange a camp in Europe, could see Bucs a more potent force in 2023-2024.

“We played against teams that force you to play focused and concentrated for the 90 minutes,” the coach said.

“This is one of the aspects where we want to improve a lot this season, to be consistent during the 90 minutes.

“There will hopefully again be many crucial knockout [and other] games where one mistake can kill your dreams, so we need to play the way we did today [Wednesday] against a top team [Las Palmas], top tier in LaLiga, which requires a level of concentration we are not used to.

“We are learning a lot of lessons to be more competitive than we were last season.”

Pirates kick off their season with their league match against Stellenbosch FC at Danie Craven Stadium on August 5.

SowetanLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to TimesLIVE Premium. Just R80 per month.