José Riveiro Believes They Had an Almost Perfect Game!

José Riveiro Believes They Had an Almost Perfect Game! The Buccaneers beat the mighty Brazilians this weekend.

Orlando Pirates defeated Mamelodi Sundowns 3-0 in the MTN 8 on Saturday afternoon. Head coach José Riveiro believes that they executed their game plan to the T!

The Buccaneers took an early lead though former Sundowns striker Kermit Erasmus. He was supplied by Monnapule Saleng, who terrorised the opponents all game.

Saleng then scored a brace to seal a wonderful 3-0 result for The Buccaneers. They have now made it to their 2^nd MTN 8 final in two years.

“Well, we played a game that we dreamed about,” Riveiro told SuperSport TV after the match. 

“One of the scenarios that we knew we could find during the 90 minutes which is getting the lead early in the first half and it happened. I think we played a good start to the game.

“We were aggressive against a good team, it’s difficult to press them. It’s difficult to be aggressive against Sundowns players who manage the ball very well.

“We were not defending at the height we were expecting to defend in the first half. We lost height very soon in our circulations.

“We needed to adjust that in the second half because we didn’t. I don’t remember situations when the ball was there.

“Around good players, they obviously manage, it’s always the possibility to create chances to score. But I think the ball was more around our structure than inside of our structure the first half.

“In the second half we were a bit tired, so we needed to consolidate and reinforce our central midfield a bit with [Ben] Motshwari and Goodman [Mosele] and with Zakhele [Lepasa] up front I think our probabilities to succeed in transition or isolated situations like it happened with the throw-in with the second goal. We knew that we’d have chances to finalise the game, and that happened.

“I said before, for me, we did almost the, I won’t say perfect performance, but we did everything the game was asking for in the 90 minutes. Outstanding performance from the guys.

“The way they prepared their minds to face the game was super and I’m a very proud coach tonight,” he went on to say.

The Buccaneers will play Usuthu in the final. José Riveiro Believes They Had an Almost Perfect Game!