Riveiro explains bold decision to start Makgopa ahead of in-form Mabasa in Nedbank final
Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has explained why he chose to start Evidence Makgopa over in-form Tshegofatso Mabasa in Saturday’s Nedbank Cup final against Mamelodi Sundowns.
The Buccaneers displayed incredible resilience as they fought back from being a goal down to secure a dramatic 2-1 victory over Sundowns at the vibrant and packed Mbombela Stadium.
This hard-fought win allowed them to successfully defend their Nedbank Cup title, a prestigious achievement that they had also accomplished in the previous season.
Pirates coach Riveiro made a surprise decision to start Mabasa on the bench despite the striker finishing the 2023/24 season as the leading scorer in the DStv Premiership.
The former Bloemfontein Celtic striker netted 16 goals in the league to beat Stellenbosch FC attacker Iqraam Rayners to the Golden Boot award. Mabasa started the campaign on loan at Maroka Swallows, but he returned to his parent club during the 2024 January transfer window.
Since his return to Pirates, the 27-year-old goal-poacher played in 18 matches across all competitions, scoring 13 goals.
Meanwhile, Makgopa, who returned from injury a few weeks ago, got a nod in the starting lineup for the Nedbank Cup final, with Mabasa replacing him in the second half.
WHY RIVEIRO STARTED THE MATCH WITH MAKGOPA AHEAD MABASA
The Spanish coach said that Evidence Makgopa started the game because he knew that Pirates would have less possession against Downs. The decision to start the tall forward was surprising, especially since he had not scored since March against Polokwane City FC.
“We’re here to make decisions, and we try to make the decisions that we feel are gonna help us win the game. We have many players on form who didn’t start, but they gave us good performances in the previous games,” Riveiro said.
“It was hard for me to not play them [in-form players] from the beginning but we know this type of game, I say we know because it’s not only me but the whole group, I think I said many times that we need to dominate many games.
“We started Makgopa, for example, instead of Tshego. Like I said before the match, we have to accept that you will spend most of the time far from [Ronwen] Williams rather than close to Williams.
“And Evidence can help us a lot in that scenario, the speed of [Monnapule] Saleng, the capacity of Deon Hotto to repeat efforts to hold [Khuliso] Mudau in positions that he was forced to play in the first-half. There’s a lot of components and because we won we can say it worked, I think we are happy with the plan.”
REALED STORY: Evidence Makgopa’s qualities that makes him Bafana’s main striker