Mokoena blames Riveiro after Pirates’ Caf Champions League semi-final loss against Pyramids

Orlando Pirates narrowly missed a chance to reach the final of the Caf Champions League after an aggregate 3-2 loss against Egyptian outfit Pyramids.

After a goalless result in the first leg of the last four, the Sea Robbers needed a win or a draw of any kind in Egypt to advance. They twice took a lead before conceding late to crash out of the annual competition.

Bucs’ legend Lebohang Mokoena has now opined where he feels the Soweto giants went wrong against their opponents.

‘Pirates gave it away’

I’m just going to be blunt about this; the players gave it away. It was in our hands, and sometimes God gives you an opportunity once, twice, and the third time it’s just never going to work out,” Mokoena told SoccerBeat Podcast.

“I just felt like we got the goals that we needed because we knew that we were that special when we were playing away from home, but we know that North Africans are always going to attack with set-pieces. Why couldn’t we deal with that?

“I mean, we were leading 2-1, and immediately after that, we conceded. What happened to game management? Why did Sipho Chaine not do those time-wasting tactics, because North African Africans do it all the time?” 

Costly substitutions by Riveiro?

Mokoena has further questioned the substitutions made by coach Jose Riveiro that he feels contributed to the loss.

“We needed a leader to calm the nerves down, and I didn’t understand the substitutions from the coach [Jose Riveiro]. You take out [Mohau] Nkota who was our only outlet and quickest player.

“As for the combination of Tapelo Xoki and [Nkosinathi] Sibisi, the guys were just bunched up, and no one was communicating that he was going for the ball, and they were going for the same ball. We knew that this team would want to score through set-pieces, but we didn’t deal with those situations,” Mokoena concluded.