Pirates are still far from a finished product, cautions Riveiro despite impressive Cup form

Smiso Msomi

Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro feels his team are a long way from reaching their ceiling despite their impressive win to book a spot in the quarter-finals of the Nedbank Cup.

The Sea Robbers began the defence of the ‘Ke Yona’ title with a professional victory over Richards Bay on Sunday in Durban.

This triumph comes a week after they emerged unscarred from a daunting trip to Egyptian giants Al Ahly, whom they beat in Cairo in the CAF Champions League. The Buccaneers are also six points behind leaders Mamelodi Sundowns in the Betway Premiership, having played a game less with nearly half of the league season gone.

A brace by Patrick Maswanganyi and a late Tshegofatso Mabasa strike was enough to see Pirates stretch their unbeaten run in the Nedbank Cup to 11 matches, having won the competition in the past two editions.

Speaking to the media after the match at King Zwelithini Stadium, Riveiro expressed that although his team had improved from when he took over, they still had a couple of levels higher to go.

“There’s always a need for growth for everyone in life and the players are no exception; the group, the team, is not an exception,” he said.

“We are in a good space right now in everyone’s eyes because we’re getting results, but the performances have been there for a while already and the team is getting more mature every game.”

Pirates had to suffer for a considerable period against the Natal Rich Boyz, as they threatened to turn the match on its head despite the visitors’ two-goal buffer. A Yanela Mbuthuma strike in the 47th minute made it a nervy first 15 minutes of the second half, but Pirates later established control having made substitutions. Riveiro believed that his side would benefit heavily from scenarios where they’d need to stay in the game without being in control, similar to their performance against Al Ahly a week ago.

“These types of games will be important for them to understand that we won’t always have control for various reasons and they have to be there, otherwise they aren’t going to make it. That part of the process is very important, especially for the young ones.”

Having made a sluggish start to the 2024/2025 campaign, Maswanganyi seems to be finally getting back to the kind of form that saw him named Player’s Player of the Year last season. While Riveiro was very coy on speaking about ‘Tito’, he praised the Bafana international for his contribution on the day.

“I don’t speak about individual performances. You should know it already. I think the team did an excellent effort, including Tito himself, to take the team to the next round,” he said.

“He had an important contribution to the scoreline, obviously. He scored two beautiful goals and an assist, but the emphasis is about how much everybody is working to make it possible one more in these circumstances which is normal, and he was the best one to play a good football match.”