Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro will be relying on the home crowd when they host Cape Town City in the MTN8 semi-final second leg at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Buccaneers head into the encounter with an away goal advantage after playing to a 1-1 draw at the Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday night.
Riveiro spoke to the media during the MTN8 press conference at Orlando Stadium on Friday. He said the emphasis will be on displaying a solid performance and feeding off their boisterous home crowd.
Home ground forces nothing but the best on team
“The emphasis will be on the fact that we are playing at home. And since we always call for Orlando to be packed, it is our responsibility to offer a good performance,” Riveiro said.
“We had an excellent crowd against SuperSport United in the quarterfinal. And we hope for the same against Stellenbosch.
“But we’re going to try and play for the result and to win in front of our home fans. Because we know winning at home will take us to the final.”
In terms of how the team will approach the match against a well-oiled Cape Town City machine, the Spanish tactician said they will be going for nothing but a win. He said it will be the best result to take them to the final.
“We don’t have any other way to approach the game than to go and try to win it. And if we think that way and keep that level of ambition, the fixture will go well for us,” he said.
Playing against an excellent team
“So, we’re not preparing to protect the lead tomorrow. Because we know that if we win the game, we’ll reach the final.
“Cape Town City is an excellent team with a good combination of experienced players. The likes of [Fortune] Makaringe, [Kamohelo] Mokotjo, and a lot of other players that know how to win matches.
“So, they are a difficult team that is very dynamic and hard to deal with the speed they have upfront.”
The game will get underway at 3pm.
