Orlando Pirates coach defends Ofori after costly mistake

Josef Zinnbauer has defended his goalkeeper Richard Ofori, following his mistake against Swallows FC in the MTN8 at the Orlando Stadium last Saturday. 

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The Ghanaian shot-stopper failed to clear the ball just outside the penalty box, as it landed on the Birds striker Rudzaigh Gamildien’s way, who lobbed it into an empty net to register a brace in the match and a second goal for Swallows, with the game ending 2-1 in favour of the visitors.

Zinnbauer argues that it was unfortunate for Ofori to make the blunder, saying he has been injured for a long time.  

“It’s always unlucky to see a goalkeeper doing a mistake, we are not happy about this. In most times, when a goalkeeper makes a mistake it’s a goal. We know we have to work on it. Ofori has been out for a long time, but he had good friendly games with good performances and in the training sessions as well. It was not his day (Saturday),” said the Bucs mentor.

“It’s not easy for a goalkeeper to come back (after making a mistake), it’s not easy for the team as well. But the team went into the right direction, but it was not enough.”

The German born coach also believes that the club had numerous opportunities to get back into the game, and had they done that and won the match, Ofori’s mistake would have been forgotten. 

“We had the chances, we had the opportunities to score. Had we had one more goal, nobody would have made big discussions about Ofori. We will analyse this, we will work with him and make him 100 percent better. But, I know that there were games last season when Ofori gave us wins, and sometimes we lost.”

Having lost their first game of the season, the Buccaneers will be eager to get things right ahead of their opening match of the season next weekend. 

It remains to be seen whether Zinbbauer will deploy veteran keeper Wayne Sandilands, or Siyabonga Mpontshane in their next game, or carry on with Ofori. Pirates will be hosting Cape Town-based side Stellenbosch FC on Saturday in their opening game of the DStv Premiership.