Pirates looking to break Sundowns’ dominance in the league

Having finished second in the league twice in the last two seasons, Orlando Pirates will be looking to finally break Mamelodi Sundowns’ dominance by winning the league title this season.

And with the Brazilians having made changes in the coaching department, which saw head coach Rulani Mokwena being released and being replaced by his assistant Manqoba Mngqithi, and also looking rather shaky at the beginning of the season after being bundled out of the MTN8 by Stellenbosch FC, Pirates have been presented with a chance to finally topple Sundowns at the top.

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Pirates coach Jose Riveiro says it will take more than one team to do that [stop Sundowns’ dominance] and has challenged other teams not to make it easy for Sundowns to win the league this season.

“This is our third season together, we know how difficult it is to finish at the top. The league has been dominated by the same team over the last six, seven years, collecting a huge amount of points. In my opinion, it’s every club’s responsibility to make the league competitive by having more teams fighting for the top position,” said Riveiro during the launch of the Betway Premiership season in Sandton this week.

“I think this season teams have better squads, but let’s see when the games start. In our case, we want to finish better than last season regarding the football we want to play and the points we want to collect. To make sure that we are one of the teams fighting for the league honours towards the later stages of the season,” added the Spaniard.

With Pirates playing in so many competitions including the CAF Champions League this season, Riveiro believes that he has enough depth in his squad to compete on all fronts. He, however, does not rule out the possibility of adding one or two players before the transfer window closes on 20 September.

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“We don’t have any problem regarding numbers and quality in the squad, it’s more than enough. We have enough (depth), but at the same time, the club has the responsibility to always keep an eye on the market. It’s important to recruit talent all the time.”