Big cup, Caf games helping knock Orlando Pirates into shape: Riveiro

Orlando Pirates facing a measure of pressure in the form of three must-win early season games has helped in developing the maturity in their squad as the league season approaches, Bucs coach Jose Riveiro says. 

Pirates swept SuperSport United aside 3-1 in the MTN8 quarterfinals to earn a place in the semifinals, where the defending champions meet Cape Town City in the first leg at Cape Town Stadium on Tuesday (7pm) and then Orlando Stadium in Saturday's second leg. 

After that good season kickoff, a side that has developed a reputation for being slow starters in Jose Riveiro's two seasons that have yielded four domestic cup trophies, saw off CS-Disciples of Madagascar in the Caf Champions League first preliminary round.

Bucs drew the away leg in Mauritius 0-0 then brushed the islanders aside 4-0 in Friday's return leg at Orlando. 

Riveiro was asked what Bucs have gained from their three high-profile knockout games. 

“I think it's a strange season right now. We have played three 'finals' already and the league hasn't even started and football didn't even start for most PSL teams,” he said, referring to the extraordinarily late September 14 kickoff for the Betway Premiership. 

“It's an opportunity for us to become more mature. It's one of the things we can do better as a group — we cannot hide ourselves right now because every football fan is watching us as no-one else is playing. 

“So I guess if you want to see football in South Africa right now it's been about Pirates. 

“And the boys are doing a good job. They managed to get the results, having another opportunity to play in the [MTN8] final and having the team in the next [Caf] preliminary round again. 

“So I think it's good for maturity and that's what we need to capitalise on out of these first three games of the season.” 

The five knockout games going into the early-September Fifa break could serve as ideal preparation for Pirates ahead of a far more frenetic schedule once the Premiership kicks off. 

Bucs are looking to put their poor Premiership starts behind them in 2024-25, to mount a far stronger challenge to seven-time successive champions Mamelodi Sundowns than the past two campaigns' runners-up finishes by 16 and 23 points. 

Riveiro is happy to have had the MTN8 and Champions League games as a form of preparation. 

“One of the keys is to plan. It's not a contradiction — we need to always be [focused on] here right now, but at the same time we need to think about what's coming,” he said. 

“September is going to be hectic and we need to integrate [new] players as much as possible. I think it's something we did well in these two [Caf] games, with a lot of players participating. 

“In Mauritius we started with Phillip [Ndabayithethwa Ndlondlo] and [Makhehlene] Makhaula and [on Friday] we started with [Thalente] Mbatha, 'KB' [Kabelo Dlamini] and 'Tito' [Patrick Maswanganyi] in the middle. 

“Thabiso Monyane [who started on Friday] is back from an injury, Miguel Timm [who came off the bench] is back from a long period; [scorer] Karim Kimvuidi — everybody needs to be ready. 

“We have many players in each position, it's a fact, especially in the forwards. They need to be ready and the best way to do that is to play minutes. 

“Yes, some of the subs are thinking about their benefit for [playing in the] future and at the same time the benefit for the team for our near future too.”