How Pirates ‘surprised’ Lupopo despite crashing out of the CAF CL – ‘We suffered a lot’

St Eloi Lupopo laboured past Orlando Pirates in the CAF Champions League's final preliminary round to make the group stage.

The Democratic Republic of Congo outfit registered what looked like an unassailable 3-0 win in the first leg that was staged in Lubumbashi.

However, the Soweto giants made the aggregate score even following their 3-0 victory as well at the Orlando Stadium on Saturday.

However, the Buccaneers fell 5-4 in the penalty shoot-out to crash out of the annual competition, which was a massive blow, especially after reaching the semi-final last season. Coach Guy Bukasa has conceded that Bucs deserved a place in the group stage. 

We learnt too much from Pirates

“Honestly, yes, but it didn’t change much in the organisation. They kept the ball; they tried to go on the sides and come inside,” he told the media.

“But we tried to keep spaces closed, and what they did well was to try and kick from far, and they found some solutions, but we knew that they would continue to keep the ball. [Oswin] Appollis, [Tshepang] Moremi, and the same things, but I was surprised by that decision to play without a real number nine.

“Honestly, we feel proud, but I think we learnt too much from these two games against Pirates because they are a very well-organised team off and on the pitch,” Bukasa continued.

The Buccaneers deserved to continue

“They have talented players. When they have the ball, it’s just amazing. When you are an opponent, you appreciate what they are doing. So, it was difficult for us for over 180 minutes. We suffered too much,” he added.

“The reason why we tried to stay low [block] was to avoid conceding more goals because if we had made the mistake of pressing them, then we could’ve conceded four goals. So, we are happy. I must say congratulations to Pirates because they also deserve to continue, but we fight. We came to [South Africa] to get a qualification.

“For us, we learnt too much from them and we continue to work and improve our level for the group stage,” Bukasa concluded.