Title chasers: Orlando Pirates’ next six games revealed

Orlando Pirates overcame a rampant Mamelodi Sundowns team on Sunday, which could prove vital in their PSL pursuit.

It will be a Sunday like no other when Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns battle it out at the FNB Stadium in Soweto. Image: Orlando Pirates website

Orlando Pirates head into the international break with renewed optimism after beating Mamelodi Sundowns 2-1.

The Brazilians, who have few chinks in their armour, sat eighteen points ahead of the Buccaneers before kick-off but were outplayed for the majority of the first half, during which Relebohile Mofokeng calmy slotted two goals in two minutes to give the hosts a commanding lead in the opening quarter.

Miguel Cardoso’s side took control in the second half, but ultimately, Khuliso Mudau’s 66th-minute goal wasn’t enough to spark a comeback, and Orlando Pirates picked up their first league victory over the Tshwane-giants in five years.

Upcoming fixtures

MC Alger vs Pirates(April 1, 21:00)

Polokwane City vs Pirates (April 6, 15:00)

Pirates vs MC Alger (April 9, 18:00)

SuperSport United vs Pirates (April 20, 17:30)

Pirates vs Magesi (April 25, 19:30)

Kaizer Chiefs vs Pirates (May 3, 15:00)

The boss speaks

In a post-match interview, Orlando Pirates manager Jose Riveiro remained focused on the task at hand, saying, “every point is important in a league where it seems there’s one team who’s going to finish close to 80 points, probably by the end of the season,” said Riveiro

“So obviously if you want to compete with them, when you look at the schedule, you cannot say to yourself, ‘Okay, here if we get a point, it’s fine’, or even today playing against them, ‘If we get a point, it’s going to be alright’, it’s not.

“You have to always fight for the maximum points, and again, it’s a pity that we’re not arriving in this game – obviously we’re going into the space of the ‘ifs’, but still we have four games more to play than them,” the Orlando Pirates boss added.

“It would have been nice to have [had] those games played already, come here and maybe, I don’t know, even if we are six or seven points behind them and even three points, just that little advantage would give the game a different dimension, I’m sure.

“It would then speak more clear about our reality. The reality is that we have – how many points right now? A lot of points, I think it’s not frequent at this moment of the season, with this amount of games.

“But if you only look at the gap, maybe you can think the way that people maybe were thinking too much this week that this [title race] is over, and we’re not doing well, and all these things that you were asking me before the match, and now we’re here.”