“The squad is full of quality, talent and ambition and in numbers we are OK. We have good players in every position, we are good to go, but at this stage of the season nobody is in his prime.
“Competition is forcing us to start competing immediately and make sure the result is on our side on Saturday. I am coaching Orlando Pirates and the expectation must he higher every season because of who we are.
“We have to fight for every opportunity to win game after game. We take one competition at a time. We have the MTN8, where we have the opportunity to defend our title, but we have to respect our next opponents because SuperSport is not a joke.
“We are talking about knockout games, there is no other way to start. We played them twice last season and we couldn’t beat them. We lost in Polokwane and managed to get only one point at Orlando on the last day of the season.
‘SuperSport is not a joke,’ says Riveiro before Pirates’ MTN8 clash
Image: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has declared his squad ready for the season that starts with his team's tasty MTN8 quarterfinal clash against SuperSport United at Orlando Stadium on Saturday.
The Buccaneers, who have notably bolstered their squad with Angolan star attacker Gilberto and Selaelo Rasebotja from SuperSport, start the season with the task of defending their MTN8 trophy for a third season running.
“We have 42 players in the squad and if I say I need something else I’ll be unfair to the guys I have,” soft-spoken Riveiro said, adding Bucs aim to to hit the ground running.
“The squad is full of quality, talent and ambition and in numbers we are OK. We have good players in every position, we are good to go, but at this stage of the season nobody is in his prime.
“Competition is forcing us to start competing immediately and make sure the result is on our side on Saturday. I am coaching Orlando Pirates and the expectation must he higher every season because of who we are.
“We have to fight for every opportunity to win game after game. We take one competition at a time. We have the MTN8, where we have the opportunity to defend our title, but we have to respect our next opponents because SuperSport is not a joke.
“We are talking about knockout games, there is no other way to start. We played them twice last season and we couldn’t beat them. We lost in Polokwane and managed to get only one point at Orlando on the last day of the season.
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“We know it is going to be a difficult game but we know where we want to go and we will try our best.”
Asked to reflect on their preseason where they played against teams in Spain, Riveiro said they did their best to be ready for the campaign.
“It was a short preseason full of training matches. We had the opportunity to travel for two weeks and get a proper impression of where the team is and try to find what is the best way to start the season.”
Pirates have won four trophies in Riveiro's two seasons with the club and been runners-up in the Premiership twice to seven-time successive champions Mamelodi Sundowns, though by 16 and 23-point margins.
MTN8 quarterfinals
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