Pirates injury worries not ending ahead of Benghazi match in Libya

Orlando Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer once again has to go through a difficult match with most of his key players injured ahead of their clash with Al-Ahli Benghazi at the Martyrs of  Benina Stadium in Libya on Sunday.

Zinnbauer says most of his players who were on national duty during the international break came back injured, making it difficult for him to prepare the squad for their Group A Caf Confederation Cup tie with Benghazi.

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Thabang Monare, Thulani Hlatshwayo and Innocent Maela were with Bafana Bafana, while Deon Hotto was with the Namibian national team.

But, the Bucs coach believes in the rest of the players who are fit to play and says they are looking for a good result away from home.

“We have players back from the national team and my feeling was all players are injured. Tyson (Hlatshwayo) had a big stomach problem, but I hope it’s better now. Maela is out, it’s not possible that he can play. Hotto is out, he is not in the squad. Thabiso Monyane came back, but now he is out again. He has problems with his ankle. Monare is out, he has a problem with his knee, he got kicked while he was with the national team,” the Bucs mentor revealed.

“Thembinkosi Lorch is out..we have a long long list of players who are out (for this game). It’s very difficult to manage the squad. We know the situation, we had the same problems weeks ago when players came back from the national team. But we have the squad, we have the quality and we look besides this and I hope we get a good result and a good game.”

The Buccaneers coach, however, knows that coming against Benghazi won’t be easy, especially having to play on a different field than they are used to.

“We are playing on an artificial grass and it’s an advantage to the opponents, it’s different. It’s a small advantage which the opponents have. But Benghazi has a good team especially in offense. They have a top offense player, good system, high pressure, good transition to attack and those are the things that we have to work on (prepare ourselves for). It’s not only about the grass, the team has good quality.”

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