Beaten fair and square by Stellenbosch away from home at the Danie Craven Stadium four weeks ago, Orlando Pirates head over to the Athlone Stadium looking for continuity to their positive start to the season.
Questions have been raised on whether the Soweto giants have it in their team to keep playing at such a high intensity.
How long until they burn out or get figured out by opposition teams in the DStv Premiership?
Most importantly, can the Buccaneers string together a series of victories and consistently return positive results?
It was not too long ago when they travelled to Gqeberha and were exposed by Morgan Mammila’s “Chilli Boys”.
During that game, Chippa United exposed the fact that Pirates’ out-and-out attacking style makes them vulnerable to the counter-attack.
With that in mind, can they really be consistent across all competitions this season?
Coach José Riveiro acknowledges the importance of instilling continuity and consistency in his team. In Riveiro’s eyes, there’s no better time to start than on Sunday afternoon when they face Stellenbosch FC in the first leg of the MTN8 semi-finals.
“We want to give continuity to our performances in the league,” said Riveiro, referring to their 2-0 result over Cape Town City earlier this week.
“This is one more game. Every time we go to the field, we do it with the intention of winning, and that’s the intention of the team on Sunday.”
Riveiro wants his team to land the first punch in the two-legged fixture against Stellenbosch, and this is a result of understanding that anything could happen in the second leg.
Last season, they hammered a dominant Mamelodi Sundowns outfit in both legs of the MTN8 semi-finals.
“We approach the game with the intention to win the first leg. That’s the way we want to do it,” Riveiro said.
“We will have an opportunity to consolidate our performance. We want to perform in the right way, understanding that we have an opportunity and the capacity to do it. We are not going to be thinking that we still have a chance to play the second leg.”
Pirates have been on a goalscoring spree since the opening-day defeat to Stellies. They bounced back by thrashing Royal AM 4-2 before destroying Sekhukune United 5-0 in the MTN8 quarter-final.
IOL Sport