Orlando Pirates started preparing for their MultiChoiceDiski Challenge quarterfinal match from the first week of the month, coach Augusto Palacios revealed.
They will take on University of Pretoria at the King Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi, Durban on January 31. Pirates finished top of Group A while Tuks claimed the last quarterfinal spot in Group A, finishing fourth.
“We had already started on the 4th of January because the match was supposed to be on the 17th but was re-scheduled for the 31st. We continue with our preparations, we’ve played 4 friendly games so far.
“We still continue to prepare, we are not taking the match lightly because University of Pretoria have a very good team. They beat Chiefs to qualify for the quarterfinals, you can never undermine any opponents, you need to take it very serious,” the coach said.
“We continue with all the players who played in the Diski Challenge, from the development and those from the first team, we are doing very well.”
Pirates finished the group stage with 15 points, which were the most by any other team. They also won five of the seven matches, which were the most number of wins by any side. That was enough to convince Palacios that his charges are on the right track and there is no need for any changes.
“We don’t have new players, you can’t register any new players. Remember the rules say you can only register 30 players and we already have that number of players, we continue with the same squad, we never changed,” explained the Bucs’ mentor.
Palacios had to also release some of his youngsters for national duty, like his counterparts. He’s hoping that they will be back on time to take part in the club’s preparations.
“I think the national team is going to come back somewhere around the 24th. If they arrive in time it’s OK, we’d like to have all the players.”
The coach stressed that there is no time to slow down for his players, especially after being the most successful side during the group stage of the competition, including finishing on a high by winning their final clash against MamelodiSundowns 4-0.
“The players know very well that it’s a knockout , after this you need to play two semifinals. They are taking the game very serious, they also want to continue from where we left of when we beat Sundowns.
“We can’t dwell on the last result, no, the tournament continues we need to take it serious. We prepare to win the game, we know it will be a very difficult game, we taking it very serious,”Palacious concluded.
The Buccaneers clash with Tuks will follow the first quarterfinal between SuperSport United and Platinum Stars, which kicks off at 10am.
The winner between Pirates and the University of Pretoria will face the triumphant team in the match involving Bloemfontein Celtic and Mpumalanga Black Aces.
No comments:
Post a Comment
drop your comment about your football hero, their fashion style, like who dresses most, who drink most ,who hang out most like going to club , who plays with woman most and so on