Victorious Pirates change focus to ‘important’ league competition

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has conceded that the DStv Premiership is the most important competition to win, despite having won the MTN8 and being in contention to win the Carling Black Label Knockout. 

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Speaking after his side booked their spot in the quarterfinals of the Carling Knockout following their 2-0 victory against Cape Town Spurs at Orlando Stadium last Friday, the Spaniard emphasised the importance of winning the championship title. 

Pirates are currently trailing log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns by 17 points, but Bucs have three games in hand over the Brazilians. 

“The league is the most important competition, it goes without saying. 30 games, home and away against everybody in every type of circumstances, hot or raining.  So, it is the most important competition. We really want to find our rhythm in that competition (the league),” said the Bucs mentor.

“It is a very particular situation, in the last 66 or 65 days, we have played two league games. Which is very unusual. We played our fourth competition (last week Friday) in two months and a half. We are trying to keep (a high) level in every competition that we play and we are trying our best (to win every game).”

The Spaniard added that having to focus on many competitions drains the players mentally, but he says they are always going into every game with the intentions of doing well and their focus now is set on the league game against AmaZulu. 

“It is difficult mentally to face these amount of competitions in a short space of time. But trust me, our intention is to be at the same level in our league games. We are now 100 percent focused on the AmaZulu game on Tuesday. Personally, and I think my opinion will be shared by every coach in the world, the league is the most important tournament,” he added. 

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“But it doesn’t mean that other tournaments are not important like this one (Carling Knockout). I think every competition has its own relevance, it is an opportunity to improve the history of the club.”

The Buccaneers will next come up against an AmaZulu at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Tuesday.

Usuthu are on the high coming into this game after getting one over Soweto giants Kaizer Chiefs in the Carling Knockout this past weekend. AmaZulu beat Chiefs 1-0 at FNB Stadium on Saturday.