Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro says the defending pair of Jabulani Mokone and Mbekezeli Mbokazi have a chance to be in the Pirates first team however they need to be patient.
The two have been the rock of the Buccaneers development side in the DDC with Mbokazi also catching the eye of the national U20 team coaches where he was also part of the squad that qualified for the 2025 U20 AFCON.
The pair was also part of the PSL All Stars team that defeated Carling Knockout champions Magesi FC in the Carling Black Label Cup at Orlando stadium on Saturday.
However, they are yet to earn promotion to their club’s first team like their peers Relebohile Mofokeng and Mohau Nkota. Having led the players in the cup match Riveiro said his challenge is that he already has depth in the first team and cannot just make introductions.
“Well as everybody knows the pool of quality, the depth of our squad is big,” said Riveiro.
“It is difficult to introduce youngsters in the regular starting 11s but not impossible as all the players are showing. I think there’s an example for them like Nkota, Rele, Thabsio Monyane there’s several names in our squad coming from our Academy”.
“So they need to be patient, they need to work, there might be a right time for them. Sometimes it’s impossible to introduce all of them together at the same time but I think so far the club is so happy with the two players that you mentioned before and many others.”
