Shortly after leading Orlando Pirates to a cup double triumph in the same season, Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro was emotional and out of words to describe match-winner Relebohile Mofokeng.
The 19-year-old sensation came off the bench to help the Buccaneers to a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Mamelodi Sundowns in the Nedbank Cup final at Mbombela Stadium.
The Spanish mentor made it four cup victories in four finals, which subsequently saw him defeat Rulani Mokwena for the second time this season after Pirates also beat Sundowns in the MTN8 final.
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“Just have a look – the happiness. We gave our all that’s what the people were expecting from us. The happy people were looking at us tonight, today and we did it,” Riveiro said on SuperSport TV post-match.
“Coming back against Sundowns is not for everyone. It’s an excellent team. They made us suffer a lot during the 90 minutes.
“We have our moments in the game but again we try our best to make these people happy so congratulations to all of them, congratulations to everyone involved in this project – the Chairman, the management of the club, all the players that were part of this season in this team which is not a small number.
“Congratulations to the coaches staff for the tireless work during the whole season, and congratulations to me as well.”
Riveiro admitted that his tactics slightly surprised him after Relebohile Mofokeng came off the bench to score at the death and break Sundowns hearts.
“We didn’t expect to use him when we’re not leading, that was not the plan,” Riveiro said.
“Unfortunately, we conceded one goal when were about to play Tshego [Mabasa] and Rele [Mofokeng]. The intention was to keep the pace all the time upfront with [Deon] Hotto, with [Monnapule] Saleng, with Rele – with them trying to stretch them as much as possible.
“It’s [Mamelodi Sundowns] a team that use to play very high. With the back four very high, goal always in the front foot. So we try to repeat something similar again.
“The other opportunities in the first half we didn’t capitalise, and he [Relebohile Mofokeng] just came in the perfect moment, he’s a blessed [with talent] guy, and what a goal, unbelievable!”
Pirates make it two trophies in back-to-back seasons after clinching the MTN8 and Nedbank Cup titles during the last campaign. They have repeated the same feat again this season.
