Pirates coach Zinnbauer finds continental football interesting

In his first continental tournament with Orlando Pirates, coach Josef Zinnbauer has managed to take the club through to the group stages of the Caf Confederation Cup.

ALSO READ: Pirates saunter into Confederation Cup group stages

Zinnbauer began their Confederation Cup campaign with a positive note, beating Sagrada Esperanca 1-0 away courtesy of a Thembinkosi Lorch striker.

But, the second leg wasn’t played after the Angolan side withdrew from the competition after fears of traveling into South Africa due to the new Corona virus strain last month.

However, Bucs went on to beat Botswana club Jwaneng Galaxy 4-0 on aggregate to advance to the group stages.

In the two leg tie against Jwaneng, Zinnbauer played his youngsters Azola Tshobeni, Thabiso Sesane and Bongani Sam.

The German born coach believes playing in the Caf competition will help him learn more about other African teams’ style of play and most importantly, it will help his youngsters at the club to gain a much needed experience.

“It’s interesting for me, I get information about other countries. The systems they play, the players also get information and experience which is important for me as a coach. Young players like Azola, he had a good game and that’s a step forward for him. I saw him in a duel in midfield with one guy and he won the duel, it was good for me to see,” said the Pirates coach.

“Thabiso Sesane and Bongani Sam also, young players are playing international games and we can improve them from then.”

Zinnbauer seems to be impressed with the contributions made by the young players as he continue to give them game time both in the domestic and continental campaign.

But all them face a tough competition for a permanent place in the starting line-up. Tshobeni for instance has to battle it out with the likes of Ben Motshwari, Thabang Monare and Fortune Makaringe in the central midfield role.

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