Pirates coach Zinnbauer praises Makaringe ahead of Maritzburg clash

Josef Zinnbauer has revealed the reason behind Fortune Makaringe’s constant inclusion in the Orlando Pirates line-up ahead of their clash with Maritzburg United at the Harry Gwala Stadium on Saturday.

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Makaringe, who joined Pirates from the Team of Choice in July 2019, has featured in all of Bucs matches so far this season despite the Bucs coach tweaking his starting for several matches.

“Fortune is a player that can run for 90 minute, it is the same with Ben Motshwari. But at the moment we need both players on the field. The pass to Deon Hotto came from Fortune (Makaringe set-up Hotto for a goal scoring chance in their last game against Golden Arrows which ended 0-0). He had a lot of good opportunities to release the final pass and he also had an opportunity to score. He is player who gives you everything. He can play different positions and this is important for us,” the Bucs mentor explained.

“He is a type of player who is always 100 percent fit most of the time. He doesn’t struggle with muscles or whatever when it comes to endurance. He is a good player for us and I’m happy to have him. But normally he needs a break, but at the moment we need him on the field.”

Pirates has had a rollercoaster season, especially since the start of the year, with the team blowing hot and cold in their performances, recording one win, two losses and two draws in their last five games.

The Soweto outfit is in position six on the log with 19 points.

Zinnbauer knows that he can’t do anything about the past results and says their full attention is on facing the Team of Choice.

“For me the focus is on Saturday. You can’t change what happened in the past, we can work on the post match now, we can work on a little bit of improvement but we don’t have much time.”

Maritzburg, meanwhile, have been struggling a lot this campaign with the club finding itself sitting second from the bottom of the league standings.

The KwaZulu-Natal outfit have only won two of their last 12 league games and they only have nine points in the bag.

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