By Ayanda Nyuswa
Gagasi FM Sports specialist Mike Makaab believes poor game management and a lack of champions league experience was the downfall of Orlando Pirates as they exited the CAF Champions League in the semi final stage. The Bucaneers suffered a 3-2 loss to Egyptian side Pyramids FC, with all five goals coming in the second leg of the tie in Cairo.
Jose Riveiro’s men went into the second leg in search of those important away goals and avoiding defeat to reach only their third champions league final. The away goals did come with youngsters Relebohile Mofokeng and Mohau Nkota stepping up to the plate to net the Bucaneers two goals. However, a Fiston Mayele first half double and a winner by Ramadan Sobhi gave the Egytians a brilliant come from behind win and denied the sea robbers a chance to face fellow South Africans Mamelodi Sundowns in the final, after they overcame Egyptian giants Al Ahly in the first semi final.
“Orlando Pirates came out positively which was wonderful to see, the difficulty that I had with that is when they scored the first goal they never defended it for long enough and Pyramids equalised soon thereafter. Then they scored the second goal, and again there wasn’t enough time elapsed between them taking the lead and Pyramids equalizing,” said Makaab speaking on Extratime on Gagasi FM.
“The longer the game goes on Pyramids are down 2-1, they’re having to take more risks they start to get frustrated. That’s when Orlando Pirates could’ve turned on the screws. I just think that they, probably, a lack of experience and a little bit of, let’s say over emotion. When you take a 2-1 lead you realise the opposition now has to score twice to knock us out of the semi final, and that’s exactly what happened.They equalised with Fiston Mayele, who I think is an outstanding goal poacher. I just think it boils down to two things in my opinion, their game management after taking the lead wasn’t outstanding, and there was a genuine lack of champions league experience among this group of players. Forget about ages, ages mean nothing here, it’s about how many times you’ve been in this situation as a football club in the champions league, or as a group of players in the champions league. “
