We’ll show our tenacity in Nedbank Cup, says Riveiro

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro views Saturday’s Nedbank Cup last-16 tie against second-tier side Baroka at the Orlando Stadium (3pm) as an opportunity to prove Bucs are still alive, after a 4-1 thumping by Mamelodi Sundowns in Tshwane.

“Once we manage, hopefully, to go to the next round, we’ll feel much better about ourselves. It’s an important game to show that we’re still alive.

“It’s going to be needed much more this season to move Pirates out of the road because it’s not going to be possible, let’s put it that way,'' Riveiro said.

Riveiro emphasised that his troops were looking sharp after the heavy defeat at the hands of Sundowns, narrating how they have been going about their business this week to get ready for Bakgaka.

“They [his players] are looking well, I’d say. We went through a tough week in terms of the level of the games and the level of the opponents that we faced in a short space of time.

“We didn’t finish that week the way we wanted in Pretoria, so the beginning of the week was more about rest and recovering the players from the conditioning and physical perspective,” he said.

“I think mentally as well, we did a good job, trying to understand together what happened on the day ... why couldn’t we be as good as we’d have loved in a game like that?

“It was a good reflection from our side to understand what happened [when they lost 4-1 to Sundowns] and move to the next one.”

Even so, Riveiro made it clear they were not obsessing about bouncing back strongly against Baroka after the Sundowns humiliation.

“If I say now that we’re doing or preparing something special because we lost last week, it would mean we are reacting after one defeat.

‘Running our own race’

“We are not a reactive team and we’re running our own race,” he said.

“It’s not about bouncing back, it’s about going back to the field and playing football. We didn’t have a three-hour meeting, trying to feel sorry [for] ourselves.”

Meanwhile, Baroka caretaker coach Foster Hlongwane is drawing inspiration from a team that beat Pirates in the Telkom Knockout final in 2018 to motivate the players.

Ahead of their clash, Hlongwane urged the players to use that famous victory in 2018 as motivation and to beat the Buccaneers again.

“We spoke about it, we addressed it to the players. We looked at the personalities that were there and what we could take from that.

“Those guys were willing to die for each other, they were willing to make a mark for themselves,” Hlongwane said.

“If you look at all the players, it changes the status of their careers and their families and the badge which is the club.

“So, it is not only about us, it is about how well we want to be remembered.

“We heard the cries of the chair [Khurishi Mphahlele] and our supporters, they want this team to be in the Premiership and to do well in this cup and gain momentum.

“So, we have to go into this match with a positive mindset and strong mentality.”