Pirates coach Riveiro hails penalty shootout hero Chaine

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro was full of praise for goalkeeper Sipho Chaine following the Buccaneers victory over SuperSport United on Saturday.

This comes after Chaine made two saves to help Pirates beat SuperSport 5-4 on penalties at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium to reach the semifinals of the Nedbank Cup.

READ MORE: Pirates edge SuperSport on penalties to reach cup semis

“It’s his role in the penalty shootout. He has to stay there between the posts and try to catch at least one more than the opponent,” said Riveiro during the post-match conference.

“He has been doing well in that particular scenario in recent occasions where we had to go to penalties. Again today he did an excellent job together with the analysis department, the goalkeeper coach (Tyron Damons) and everybody that is in that space.”

The game had to be decided by penalties after it finished 2-2 after 120 minutes of football in Polokwane.

Riveiro was not pleased by his team’s positioning after the Buccaneers twice let a lead slip including SuperSport’s 92nd equaliser that was scored by Gape Moralo.

“We were wrong in our positioning in the last minutes. We allowed them to have contact on the ball,” said Riveiro.

“We let players like Bradley (Grobler), (Vincent) Pule and Christian (Saile) in areas close to our box. In the end, they punished us.

Riveiro, however, was happy that his side managed to win the penalty shootout and reach the semifinals of Nedbank Cup.
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“The penalty shootout is one of the possibilities in a knockout game. There are only two possible results in these types of games. So if you can not make it in the 120 minutes, you have to go to the penalties and do your best. We did a good job in that space. I am happy to be in the semifinals.”

Arendse ‘proud’ of SuperSport despite Pirates loss

Meanwhile, SuperSport assistant coach Andre Arendse was proud of his players despite their cup exit.

“I feel for them, I don’t know who’s more tired, the players or me. I kicked every ball with them, headed every ball with them, but they gave me so much to proud of today (Saturday), so much to be proud of and it’s all we can ask for from the players,” said Arendse who led the team in Gavin Hunt’s absence. Hunt was suspended for the clash against Pirates.