Orlando Pirates sealed three out of three wins in the league. Up next is the MTN8 final this weekend.
ORLANDO PIRATES VS STELLENBOSCH FC IN MTN8 FINAL
After beating Chippa United 2-1 and Polokwane City 3-0, the Sea Robbers beat Richards Bay 1-0 on Sunday, thanks to a late Kabelo Dlamini free kick.
Meanwhile, Orlando Pirates are now preparing for Saturday. The Sea Robbers will take on Stellenbosch FC in the MTN8 final at Moses Mabhida. Kick-off will be at 18:00.
DEON HOTTO PREVIEW
In the meantime, Hotto has revealed that Orlando Pirates want to become the first-ever club to win three MTN8 titles on the bounce.
“It’d be amazing to win the final on Saturday because it’d be our third time in a row. I think no club has done that before, so we would cherish the moment for the rest of our lives. We need to win this one,” Hotto said via Sowetan.
“If you play for Pirates, there’s always pressure, and we don’t focus on that. The most important thing is to get our mindset right and make sure we stay focused all game long… we will have to fight as a team as well to win,” the Orlando Pirates left-back added.
“Stellenbosch are a difficult team to break down. They also have speed, so to outshine them we need to be at our best and put in our best performance to date,” Hotto concluded.
ORLANDO PIRATES COACH JOSE RIVEIRO ON STELLENBOSCH DANGERMEN
“We respect them [Stellenbosch] a lot. We faced Stellenbosch four times last season, we beat them once. And it took 94 minutes in Athlone to beat them against the same players,” said Riveiro to journalists.
“We didn’t get a [positive] result in the other games, so we know very well what it means to play Stellenbosch.
“It’s going to be a game where we are going to be permanently under threat because they’re going to play in transitions, it doesn’t matter how good and how well we prepare ourselves for that situation, we know it’s coming,” the Orlando Pirates tactician added.
“We know [Sanele] Barns, we know [Devin] Titus, we know the young [Bradley] Mojela, we know Jayden [Adams]. We know the capacity they have to play quick forward. We know how aggressive they are. In the counter-press, it is the top team in the league in the PSL tournaments.
“To prove how aggressive they are. Mojela is a striker, but he’s the top in terms of fouls committed with [Ismail] Toure. It tells you quite a lot about the level of aggression they have when they lose the ball. And how aggressive they are going forward and they steal the ball.
“So, we know that those are the moments we need to control close to perfection, and if we do it, we will be close to winning the match,” Riveiro added.
SHOULD ORLANDO PIRATES MAKE ANY SIGNINGS IN JANUARY?
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