Tuesday, February 18, 2025
HomeCAF Confederation CupNcikazi On Pirates Win & Mosele Return

Ncikazi On Pirates Win & Mosele Return

Orlando Pirates co-caretaker coach Mandla Ncikazi says he’s happy his side qualified for the next round of the CAF Confederations Cup and praised Goodman Mosele for his first performance since his Bafana Bafana hiatus.

The Buccaneers beat Diables Noirs 1-0 on Sunday to book their ticket for the next qualifying round of the competition.

Ncikazi said he was happy with the performance but hopes his side didn’t pick up another serious injury for Tshegofatso Mabasa.

“I’m just happy that we went through, we wanted to score and we knew that the outcome of a draw, 0-0 was not good enough and any other draw would not be sufficient for us to go through,” he said after the match.

“We scored as planned, created better opportunities to score. We just need to put the ball in the net.

“Obviously towards the dying stages of the match when the opponents were throwing everything even the kitchen sink at us, crosses into the penalty area but we managed that.

“I’m just praying that there is no other injury, Mabasa, we’ll wait for our medical team to inform us. We can’t afford to have another injury.

“We’re one team that is so unlucky with injuries, Wayne Sandilands same problem yesterday but back to the match, we’re just happy that we went to the next round. 

“This is African football and today we saw what happened, if you don’t score, you’ll have problems. I’m just happy that the team could go into the next phase.?

Ncikazi also praised midfielder Mosele, who returned to the Pirates team sheet for a first time since not pitching up for the Bafana camp.

“I was surprised that he lasted for the duration of the match, we were sceptical because it was his first match after the period he was not with the team,” he added.

“Goodman, he sustained himself, he did will, contributed in the setup. I’m just happy that he’s back. There is more from him but in the match we’ve had a lot of defending towards the end.

“But he did his job and he did very well, we’re proud of him.”

Pirates now return to DStv Premiership football when they will face Royal AM on Thursday.

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