Orlando Pirates coach not happy with Enyimba loss in Confederation Cup

Josef Zinnbauer was understandably disappointed after he witnessed his side were edged 1-0 by Enyimba of Nigeria in the last Group A game of the tournament at the Enyimba International Stadium on Wednesday.

ALSO READ: Pirates reach Confed Cup quarterfinals despite Enyimba defeat

The Buccaneers had managed to hold the hosts for the most part of the match, only to conceded goal in additional time.

But, both Bucs and Enyimba have qualified for the knock-out stages, with Enyimba finishing on top of the group, while Pirates finished second with both sides tied on nine points separated by goal-difference.

The Bucs coach bemoaned some of the chances his team created and believes they could have at least got a goal in the first half.

“We lost a game, I’m not happy. Congratulations to Enyimba and to us for qualifying (for the quarter-finals). It was a tough game for us, but we had a good start. We had good chances in the first half, but we didn’t score. Our defense was very good, in the second half we got more pressure and we made some changes (substitutions) and tactics. The pressure is normal in such a game when you have an opponent which wants to qualify,” said the Bucs coach.

Meanwhile, Enyimba coach Fatai Osho with the gutsy performance from his charges, especially for never giving up on the game after it seemed like it would end in a goalless stalemate.

“We are so happy about the result. It was not easy looking at the quality of Orlando Pirates. They did very well, and we had to work extra hard to get that result,” the Enyimba mentor said during the post-match conference.

“I will give a lot of commendation to the players for their resilience that they could get it done. So, we want to celebrate this moment and we will start looking at the knockout stage.”

The two teams will learn of their next opponents in the quarter-finals with the draw set to take place on Thursday.