Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has slammed the showboating displayed by his players in a Carling Knockout Cup clash against Magesi FC on Tuesday night.
Pirates defeated the Limpopo-based side 2-1 at Orlando Stadium to advance to the semi-final of the Beer Cup. The Buccaneers found the back of the net with goals from Tshepang Moremi and Evidence Makgopa, while Magesi pulled one back in the closing minutes of the match.
The Soweto giants return to domestic football and dusted themselves up after being eliminated from the CAF Champions League second preliminary round by Saint Eloi-Lupopo.
Pirates lost the first-leg 3-0 away from home before overturning the scoreline with the same scoreline in front of their home fans. They succumbed to a disappointing 5-4 defeat on penalties to miss out on securing a place in the group stages.
In a match against Magesi, the Sea Robbers dominated the possession and created most of the scoring chances; however, they only scored twice. Having taken a two-goal advantage in the second-half, Pirates players started entertaining fans with showboating before Magesi scored the late goal.
WHAT OUADDOU SAID ABOUT SHOWBOATING FROM PIRATES
Abdeslam Ouaddou, who was evidently furious about the act, expressed that he’s here to improve players and labelled showboating as nonsense.
“I think we started the game the way that we have planned with a high intensity and put pressure on the opponents to try to score early,” Ouaddou said.
“The boys did a fantastic job in terms of football and what we wanted to execute today [Tuesday]. We managed to have a lot of chances, I think at half-time we could have been leading with five goals. So it’s positive, I’d like to congratulate my boys for that; it was important to take this victory and go through to the next stage.
“Now my big disappointment is the last 15 minutes, and it’s the first time I’m addressing this. If we want to be more ambitious, if we want to go forward, we have to stop this nonsense [showboating] and enjoy playing small passes.
“I think if we want to do that, we have to go to the circus. I’m not here to go to the circus; I’m here to improve my players and go forward. We have to stop this nonsense because in the end, we conceded a goal, and the target was not to concede.”
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