Why was Evidence Makgopa missing in Pirates’ loss to Sundowns?

Mamelodi Sundowns beat Orlando Pirates 2-1 in a tough Premier Soccer League outing staged at the Orlando Amstel Stadium on Wednesday night.

The defending champions got their goals through Brayan Leon who scored a brace while the Buccneers got their lone goal through Patrick Maswanganyi. Despite their zeal to get the second goal and probably a point, things didn’t go as they should have anticipated.

One of the players who Bucs missed is Evidence Makgopa; the towering striker has been vital for the team, scoring three goals and providing as many assists. Coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has since clarified on the absence of the forward.

Where was Makgopa against Sundowns?

“Yeah, first of all, I have to specify that Makgopa could not be on the team [on Wednesday], because he was injured,” the former Morocco international stated in a presser.

“So he could not be on the team. But of course, it’s an area of concern for me, because if you have followed my previous press conferences over the past few months, we can see that it’s an area we must be efficient in.

“After all, it’s the reality of football. When we want to be more ambitious, we need to be clinical. And of course, we keep working, and we don’t stop working with the guys, but you have to understand as well that we have a young team, young strikers,” Ouaddou added.

The plans in attacking department

“And I just mentioned it before, it’s important when you develop the players, they have potential, but you need to be patient with them. It’s the philosophy of the club, and we accept it,” Ouaddou further continued.

“But maybe if you want to go quicker, you go spend R10 million or R20 million round, and I think maybe you will have somebody efficient from abroad.

“But the philosophy of our club, is to promote young talent in the country. And I’m sure there is a lot of talent in South Africa.

“And it’s a policy that I respect, but I mean, at the same time you have to be very patient, you know, that’s it,” he concluded.