Ouaddou dares to dream after Pirates’ CAF Champions League progress

Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou hopes the Soweto giants will go all the way to winning the CAF Champions League after making the group stage.

Bucs beat Botswana’s African Stars 5-0 on aggregate to advance to the next phase of Africa’s prestigious club competition. The initial meeting had ended 1-0 before the Sea Robbers finished the job on Friday with a 4-0 victory.

This is the first time Ouaddou is with the team in the group stage having failed to reach the level in the previous campaign. The tactician is now keen in going all the way and help Pirates win their second star.

Exciting challenge for Pirates!

“Progressing to the group stages of the CAF Champions League is a first for me and I think it will be an exciting challenge for me and for us as a team,” Ouaddou told the media.

“Although we scored two goals in the first half, we did not have the control I wanted and maybe that was due to some stress because I do have one of the youngest teams in South Africa so it’s normal and we have to work on how we manage the emotions. 

“The second half was simply perfect and we were superior to African Stars, but credit to them for testing us,” he added.

Makgopa lauded after his impact against Stars

Ouaddou has praised Evidence Makgopa for his impact in win over Stars. The striker has been out injured but managed to score and create an assist.

“Regarding Evidence you know, his last regular game was last season, and we wanted to give him the opportunity today. And I think he took it he was just fantastic. He was moving everywhere. He took the space. I was happy,” he stated.

“Something that I told him to improve on was to hold the ball between the lines as a wall player, and he allowed us to play some layoff and to find the third man. And he’s scored It’s very positive for me. It’s an area that I want efficiency. And now I have [Boitumelo Radiopane] Radio, I have [Yanela] Mbuthuma, [Sebastian] Pedersen, [Sifiso] Luthuli, everybody is scoring.

“So it’s very good news for us because to get in the group stages will allow me to rotate and to give the opportunity to all the players. I have won one more player today again with Evidence,” the former Fulham star concluded.