Outgoing Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro says the current squad has a core of young ambitious players that paints a bright future for the club.
Riveiro is set to leave the club at the end of the current season upon the expiry of his contract, with five trophies to his name and two still up for grabs in the form of the league title race and the Nedbank Cup final.
Having fell narrowly in the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League with a 3-2 defeat to Pyramids, Riveiro was notably distraught of their continental dream coming to an end with his youthful inexperienced side, with only Makhehleni Makhaula having played in the group stage of the competition before – within their entire squad of players.
“I’m very proud of the whole team, not only in this competition, but all over the long journey we’ve already covered together this year, with the qualification in the Champions League, for all of them was excellent, with honour, I say,” Riveiro said.
“We started the competition, before the group stage, I said we’re coming into the Champions League with the intention to grow as a group, as footballers and as a coach, nobody among ourselves had experience in this competition before.”
Of the current squad over 15 players are under the age of 25, with Relebohile Mofokeng (20), Mohau Nkota (20) and Mbekezeli Mbokazi (19) emerging as some of the brightest prospects on the continent with their exploits under the Spaniard since being promoted from the DStv Diski Challenege squad.
Thalante Mbatha (25) and before his injury, Thabiso Sesane (24), were also key figures this season and have broken into the senior national team set-up alongside Mofokeng – further enhancing their current quality they bring for club and country.
“We played regularly with very young players. It’s fantastic for the future, for their own future as important players [for Pirates] at 19, 20-year-old, although they have many things to improve and proving they are at the level, it’s good news for the club because the future is looking bright for Orlando Pirates with a young ambitious squad,” he added.
“With one more year of experience in a competition of the Champions League, so as I said there’s a lot of things to celebrate, obviously we’re not happy, we’re sad but the future is looking nice for the club.”
