Pirates coach Zinnbauer congratulates Enyimba for reaching Confed Cup quarters

Orlando Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer hailed Enyimba for their performance and sauntering into the quarter-finals of the Caf Confederation Cup and says the Nigerians had the right attitude to win the match.

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The Aba Warriors made it into the last eight after beating Zinnbauer’s team 1-0 courtesy of a stoppage time goal by Cyril Olisema at the Enyimba International Stadium in a midweek match.

Enyimba finished the group with nine points, level with the Buccaneers but top the group due to head to head records, while Pirates fell to second place. And thanks to ES Setif for beating Al-Ahly Benghazi of Libya 1-0, the Algerians ended up in third place after registering eight points, while the Libyans are last with seven.

“Enyimba needed the result and they had the right attitude, you can feel it. We wanted to stay good in our defence work and play our football with counter attack. We had chances in the first half, but we were not calm enough and didn’t have the luck to win the game. But the opponents…I have to say compliments to them. It was a very good performance. I can’t say we were bad, but they wanted it more,” said the German born mentor.

After finishing in second place, Pirates will play the first leg of the quarter-finals at home.

The Pirates coach added that their first objective was to win every one of their group stage games. However, they ended up with two victories, three draws and one loss. But what they have to do now is to face the situation they are in.

“The target was to win all games, it was the first target. But we are happy that we qualified. Thanks to Setif they won the game and we qualified, it was important for both teams. We have to play at home first and then away. It’s a chance for us (to win), we have two games. It is the situation we are in now and we have to accept it and move forward.”

The Buccaneers will know which team they will be facing in the last eight among JS Kabylie of Algeria , Senegal’s ASC Jaraaf and Moroccan giants Raja Casablanca with the draw set to take place on Friday afternoon.