Orlando Pirates coach Riveiro not giving up on title race

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro says they won’t be giving up on the race for the DStv Premiership title despite a huge point gap between them and log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.

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Pirates trail Sundowns by 21 points, and to make matters worse, the Soweto giants just lost two games in a row, but despite this, Riveiro still believes Pirates can still challenge for the league title.

“We are all going through different moments in the season, good moments and bad moments. That’s why the winner in the end is the one who manages to do it in moments where others are not in their best,” said the Bucs coach during a press conference this week.

“At this moment there is a team (Sundowns, who have won 10 games in a row) which is getting a really big advantage over other competitors and it’s going to be very tough for all of us even to get close to that. Are we giving up? Never.

“This is a competition. We are competitive people and we will never give up, and I don’t think SuperSport (United) or Kaizer Chiefs or any body else will give up. It’s a competition, we are going all the way until the end.”

Pirates will be looking to register their first win of the year and close the gap on Sundowns when they take on Golden Arrows at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday.

“The objective now is to collect the next three points. I am100% honest if I say I really don’t know who’s the second or third or fourth at this moment because I am trying to focus on the next game for us,” commented Riveiro.

Arrows are in sixth place on the standings, level on points with Bucs with the same number of games, but Abafana Bes’thende have better goal difference to Pirates.