Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro says he has no regrets about the wholesale changes against Jwaneng Galaxy ahead of Mamelodi Sundowns despite suffering consecutive defeats.
Riveiro made nine changes against the Botswana Premier League side as they lost 1-0 in their first-leg CAF Champions second-round qualifier, a game that determines who progresses to the group stages of the competition.
It then followed with a sub-par defeat against Sundowns at Orlando Stadium on Wednesday evening as Lucas Ribeiro Costa netted a first-half penalty.
“No [I don’t regret the changes], we do things with… ah now the headline is coach doesn’t regret… we do the things with our best intention,” Riveiro said.
“We have to play from Sunday to Sunday, three games in three different competitions, very important games for our objectives for the season, we want to be in the group stage. We want to be as high as possible in the league and the MTN8 final.
“Now we have a look at the 1-0 in Botswana and 1-0 today, and you can say that the decisions were wrong, but you can’t explain football with only results, we couldn’t make it [against Sundowns].
“We have an opportunity [to win] on Sunday, the team will be ready again to compete against a very tough opponent and with the vision to see ourselves in the final.”
Pirates now turn their attention to the second leg MTN8 semi-final against Stellenbosch where they hold a 2-1 advantage.
