Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro says that he does not know what hit them when Cape Town City stole three points from them and curtailed Bucs’ leap to the top of the Betway Premiership on Wednesday night.
The Citizens pipped the Buccaneers 1-0 in the Mother City and stopped Riveiro’s lads from overtaking log-leaders Mamelodi Sundowns. Bucs are now three points behind the Brazilians, who were not involved in league action midweek. Having played the same number of games, Downs have amassed 30 points, while Pirates are breathing down their necks on 27 points.
Hard to explain the loss
During the post-match interview, Riveiro was still seeing stars and could not explain what transpired. This is after they dominated the proceedings, only to come out on the losing end after the final whistle.
They lost to a sucker punch goal from Darwin Gonzales. This is the same man who orchestrated Kaizer Chiefs’ loss this past Sunday. Gonzales pounced on the 74th minute, and his shot was deflected into the net, leaving Bucs goalkeeper Sipho Chaine stranded.
“It’s actually quite difficult to explain the final result. I think the difference between both teams was too big. And I cannot do an analysis right now,” said a visibly stunned Riveiro on Supersport.
“We played like we play in all our matches, there was nothing wrong. And with all respect for the game of Cape Town City, it’s difficult to explain that we lost this game the way we did it. This is football, they managed to put one ball in the net, we did not. But it was a very complete performance, we did everything to win the match. [There is] not much that you can do. So, to the next one,” he added.
Bad luck episode
The Spaniard also spoke about Patrick “Tito” Maswanganyi’s missed penalty kicked that rebounded off the upright and landed on the hands of the thankful City keeper Darren Keet.
“It’s just pure bad luck in this case – did you see the way they score? It’s something not normal. Again, like I said, we were the same Pirates tonight, we played the football that we played before.
“There were other games that we didn’t play at the level we played (against City) where we got the result. But today we didn’t make it. Now we have to put more effort onto the next one in the Caf Champions League on Sunday. This one is gone,” Riveiro explained further.
