Former Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has offered a candid review of the current Betway Premiership season, providing insights into his former rivals Kaizer Chiefs and Sekhukhune United.
Speaking at a Carling Knockout Cup event on Wednesday, the Spanish tactician touched base on key developments in South African football since his departure late last season.
Riveiro abruptly parted ways with the Buccaneers with four league games remaining, leaving them in second place before taking up a post with Egyptian giants Al Ahly. However, his tenure in Cairo was short-lived, as he was dismissed after just three months following a string of poor results.
Currently unattached, Riveiro has returned to South Africa to honour his partnership with the Carling Knockout Cup, and he proved he is still closely monitoring the local scene.
‘MORE COMPETITIVE’ – RIVEIRO ON SUNDOWNS’ CHALLENGE
The three-time MTN8 champion believes the current Betway Premiership campaign is shaping up to be far more competitive. He noted that several teams have finally stepped up to challenge the long-standing dominance of Mamelodi Sundowns.
“There are more teams performing well. Recently, it was difficult for everybody to follow the rhythm that Sundowns was putting in the league. This season it seems to be slightly different,” he stated.
While Pirates stumbled in their opening two fixtures, they have since engineered a strong bounce-back. The Buccaneers currently sit second on the log with 22 points from 10 games, with seven wins in 10 outings. Riveiro praised the consistency and progress of his former team.
“There are different sides trying to take the opportunity. I think Pirates is one of the cases with their strong performances and their consistency in recent times,” Riveiro said. He added: “Fantastic, progressing week after week. I think they are definitely in the right way.”
RIVEIRO OBSERVES: CHIEFS ‘DOING BETTER’ BUT SEKHUKHUNE’S FORM IS THE ‘SURPRISE’
Riveiro’s former rivals, Kaizer Chiefs, have also shown marked improvement this season. The Soweto giants have accumulated five points more [2]) than they had at the same stage [11] games) last season.
He acknowledged the Amakhosi’s stronger start, but also pointed to the rise of Sekhukhune United as a major talking point.
“Chiefs are doing better than the last season, and I think we were all a little bit surprised as well with the performance of Sekhukhune in the first months of the competition,” he observed.
While excited by the current competitiveness, the gaffer stated he expects the real “thrills and spills” to kick off in the second half of the 30-game league run.
“I think it will come to the second part of the season, after Christmas [25 December], that it is going to be exciting, so I am looking forward to that,” Riveiro concluded.
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