Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has explained why he didn’t start Bafana Bafana winger Oswin Appollis in Saturday’s MTN8 final defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns.
The Buccaneers’ lost their first Wafa Wafa final in five years, with one of the big talking points coming before the match when Appollis was only named on the bench.
He did come on at half-time for the injured Kamogelo Sebelebele, but Sundowns secured the victory, with Iqraam Rayners scoring a late penalty to seal the final while Ghampani Lungu had missed a spot-kick for Pirates in the 60th minute.
After the match, Ouaddou opened up on his decision to leave Appollis out of the starting XI.
“He’s one of the of the best players in the country, in our team as well,” he said in his post-match presser.
“But you know when you’re playing a game, you have a strategy. You can play in different phases, you have to anticipate about what can happen in the second half.
“We planned to bring him quickly maybe after the second half. I think we did it last year.
“You know how I’m working, I always have some players who are impact players. So today, he was he was part of the impact players, somebody who can change the game.
“But the fact that we conceded early changed our plan because we were chasing. So Oswin is a fantastic players, he’s a very important player for us, an international players.
“But today we take the decision to bring him as impact player to change the game.”