Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has raised alarm over the “disrespectful” treatment of away teams in the CAF Champions League following what he says was an ordeal they suffered at the hands of FC Saint-Éloi Lupopo last season.
The Soweto giants had their continental campaign ending in the second preliminary round last campaign. It was a dramatic round which saw them lose 3-0 during the away leg in the DR Congo, before levelling matters at home by winning by the same scoreline.
But Ouaddou’s men were agonisingly beaten through a penalty shootout and failed to reach the group stage, where Lupopo went on to be placed in the same pool as Mamelodi Sundowns. The early Champions League exit invited stern scrutiny of Ouaddou’s credentials as a coach.
He had inherited a squad left by his predecessor Jose Riveiro, who had reached the Champions League semi-finals the previous season. However, last term’s catastrophic continental campaign was atoned for by sealing a treble after winning the MTN8, Carling Knockout and ending a 14-year wait for the Betway Premiership title.
ABDESLAM OUADDOU SETS TARGETS FOR ORLANDO PIRATES
Having won the Betway Premiership last season, the Buccaneers return to the Champions League. They won the competition in 1995, the only time they were crowned continental champions, and have struggled to reclaim it over the years.
With Sundowns being the current African champions, Pirates are also expected to seriously challenge for the continental crown. Ouaddou spells out their ambitions this season, saying the playing field was not level when they visited Lupopo in the DR Congo.
“The top priority will definitely be to keep our league title. But having said that, the Champions League was an area last season where we were a bit disappointing,” Ouaddou told FARPost.
“I don’t want to come back to what happened at Lupopo and how we lost the game there and the fact that the game was not on TV. How we were treated there was not fair. But I don’t want to comment on that issue.
“It [Champions League] is something that is very important to us, so we will have to focus very well on the preliminary games to get to the group stage. It’s really another target for us.”
PLEA TO CAF AND HOW OUADDOU PLANS TO PREPARE HIS MEN FOR HOSTILE TREATMENT
For Ouaddou, last season’s Champions League setback offered invaluable lessons. The 47-year-old coach plans to mentally fortify his squad against the psychological tactics often deployed by host teams in CAF inter-club competitions.
“First of all. We will have to prepare our players psychologically about what they can expect when we go to other countries. It’s our job,” the former Morocco international defender who graced four AFCON tournaments went on.
“But what I want to go deeper regarding that subject is, if we want to have our African football growing, we definitely need CAF to investigate and control some games being played away. We cannot continue to have this kind of treatment.
“I never spoke about that, but it was really disrespectful to sports values. We want to avoid that. If we want to grow, we need CAF to come in to find solutions to how they can monitor games for the sake of the growth of our African football.”
Pirates open their Champions League campaign in the first round against Mauritian side La Cure Waves SC on Sunday, September 6, and they begin away on the road.
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