Orlando Pirates ‘cruising nicely’ in Spain
· Citizen
Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou says his players are giving him ‘good answers’ during their preseason training in Spain.
This after the Buccaneers came back from a goal down to beat Cádiz CF 2-1 in a friendly played at the Cádiz Sports Complex this past weekend.
Ibon Sanchez gave Cádiz the lead in the third minute, but Tshepang Moremi restored parity seven minutes later. Daniel Msendami scored the winner just before the half-time break.
‘I have seen a lot of interesting things’
“I think the players gave me really good answers. We can see that step by step, we are increasing the intensity. We are close to the intensity of the league, and we are starting in two weeks,” Ouaddou told SuperSportBET after the game.
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“So, I have seen a lot of interesting things, firstly, defensively and team spirit. The aim is to have this compactness, to be aggressive to the opponent on one side, and to recover the ball in terms of defensive animation.
“We have seen some good transitions as well. We have scored in transition. The fact that we have played many players is because in the previous game [against Cordoba] we played one team, and again we gave chances to some players, now for one hour.
“Step by step, the objective is to come close to 90 minutes, and in the next games, we are starting to give more game time to more players. Overall, I’m very happy with what I have seen, very good team spirit.”
Ouaddou calls for more focus
Ouaddou added that they knew when they came to Spain that they were not going to face easy games.
“All the Spanish teams can play. They have a very strong physical side, and I think my team gave me very good answers. It’s what we’ll face in the PSL. So, I think we are cruising nicely, and we are just going to give some rest to the players, and I’m very happy.”
“Maybe if I’m to be a bit disappointed, it’s how we started the game [against Cádiz], the first 10 minutes, and I said to the guys, we are close to starting the league, and we need to concentrate from the beginning of games,” concluded Ouaddou.
Pirates next face Saudi Pro League side Al Ittihad on Tuesday before meeting UD Las Palmas a day after. They will then wrap up their Spanish tour with a game against Neom SC on Friday.