Pirates legend blames Riveiro for Champions League exit

Former Orlando Pirates winger Lebohang “Cheeseboy” Mokoena has blamed coach Jose Riveiro and the Bucs players for the club’s exit from the Caf Champions League.

This comes after Pirates lost 3-2 on aggregate to Pyramids FC of Egypt in the semifinals of the competition. After playing to a goalless draw in Soweto, Pyramids edged the Buccaneers 3-2 at home to set up a final with Mamelodi Sundowns.

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Mokoena blamed the Pirates players for surrendering the lead twice and Riveiro poor substitutions for the loss at the 30 June Stadium in Cairo on Saturday.

“I’m just going to be blunt about this; the players gave it away. It was in our hands, and sometimes God gives you an opportunity once, twice, and the third time it’s just never going to work out,” Mokoena said on Soccer Beat podcast.

“I just felt like we got the goals that we needed because we knew that we were that special when we were playing away from home, but we know that North Africans are always going to attack with set-pieces. Why couldn’t we deal with that?

“I mean we were leading 2-1, and immediately after that, we conceded. What happened to game management? Why did Sipho Chaine not do those time-wasting tactics, because North African Africans do it all the time?” he added.

‘Pirates needed a leader at the back’

Mokoena also blamed Riveiro for substituting Mohau Nkota and for pairing Tapelo Xoki and Nkosinathi Sibisi at centre back.

“We needed a leader to calm the nerves down, and I didn’t understand the subs from the coach (Jose Riveiro). You take out (Mohau) Nkota who was our only outlet and quickest player.

“As for the combination of Tapelo Xoki and (Nkosinathi) Sibisi, the guys were just bunched up, and no one was communicating that he was going for the ball, and they were going for the same ball. We knew that this team would want to score through set-pieces, but we didn’t deal with those situations,” concluded Mokoena.

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Following their elimination from the Champions League, Pirates will change their focus to the Betway Premiership. The Buccaneers are second behind Sundowns on the log and they trail them with nine points, but have two games in hand over the Brazilians.

They next meet Sekhukhune United at the Orlando Stadium on Wednesday before playing archrivals Kaizer Chiefs in a Soweto derby clash at the FNB Stadium on Saturday