Pirates coach Ouaddou embraces ‘positive pressure’ as they eye Carling Knockout final

As his predecessor Jose Riveiro won five trophies to position Orlando Pirates as the cup kings of the current PSL era, it goes without saying that Abdeslam Ouaddou is under pressure to preserve the club’s recent cup-winning culture.

This is why the Carling Knockout is important for Pirates’ incumbent coach, who’s already delivered the MTN8 title this season. Bucs, who have only lost once in their 17 fixtures in all competitions, face Richards Bay in the Knockout semifinal at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday at 3pm.

“It’s not easy to play every three days [Pirates beat Golden Arrows 3-1 in the league at King Zwelithini Stadium on Wednesday], but it’s an important moment for us.

“We take this competition seriously, so we are prepared,” Ouaddou said during a press conference at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Thursday.

The Moroccan, who succeeded Riveiro before the start of the season, emphasised that he enjoys the pressure he’s under at Pirates, saying it drives him to excel.

“The moment that you don’t feel this sort of pressure, for me it’ll be difficult to deliver something. You need to have this sort of positive pressure every day because this pushes you to [be] the best and to deliver,” Ouaddou said.

“In this type of job, if you are too relaxed, you won’t deliver, and you won’t reach your full potential. You need this pressure. At our club we feel it. The fans make us feel it; they push to be the best, so we don’t have time to chill when you are at Pirates.”

Meanwhile, Bay coach Ronnie Gabriel sounded confident about their chances against “the best-performing team in South Africa now”, aiming to reach the Carling final after being eliminated in the semifinals in the past three seasons.

“We understand that we’re coming up against a strong Pirates outfit, a team that’s on form, a team that’s arguably the best-performing team in South Africa now. However, we are up for the task. We’ve had encouraging results in the past few weeks. We feel we’re ready for this occasion. We want to give it a real go,” Gabriel said.

“We’ve reached three Carling Knockout semifinals in a row, and this year we’d like to take it a step further by getting to the final and giving our supporters something to cheer about.”