Jose Riveiro on Orlando Pirates' good scoring form

Pirates will now face Chippa United in the semifinals.

Riveiro admits it is a challenge and they are working tirelessly to balance things.

"It is difficult, we're working on it trust me. I think in December we had a really bad week, we lost against SuperSport [United] one game that we were leading then we played in Orlando against Stellenbosch, we were leading 2-0 after 70 minutes, and we lost 2-3. In that moment, everything started to look really bad but I think the team at that moment was good, really good,” Riveiro said.

“We were not that far but we lost a little bit of the rhythm with the top of the table. But again in 2024 we lost only one game against Sekhukhune, we had a really bad 30 minutes in Polokwane and we lost the game but apart from that game, I think the guys are doing a really good job.

“I think little by little we're growing as a group, as a team to have the capacity to compete every day and not have distractions not thinking this game is more important than the next one."

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The Buccaneers are yet to lose a Nedbank Cup game under coach Jose Riveiro.

They have won MTN8 twice and only lost one tournament since his arrival, which is the Carling Knockout Cup.

As the Nedbank Cup defending champions, the Spanish mentor discussed his lucky charm in competitions. He says he hopes they can keep the same attitude next weekend when they face Usuthu in the league.

"I would like to find the same map in our league games. I think again, these games are different because it's today or never basically. It's not even a Cup tournament where you play two legs, so if we don't have a good day today, we're out,” the coach explained.

“There's no room for I don't like to use the word relax but my English is very limited, so I cannot find another one but that's the thing that in the Cup usually you start the games with this rhythm succeeding or not, capitalising or not and in the league sometimes it's not like that.

“I think we as a group in the recent games finally found a way to get rid of one of the obstacles we faced in the last season and the beginning of this season which is scoring in the first half. In the recent games, we are scoring early in the game and that's making the games much more open."