“We’re going to try to make the Chiefs play badly. That’s the intention of the day,” said the Spanish coach.
Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has revealed his game plan ahead of the Nedbank Cup final clash against Kaizer Chiefs this weekend.
The two Soweto giants will meet in what promises to be a thrilling final at the sold-out Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Saturday (kick-off is 3.30pm).
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Pirates go into this game clash high on confidence having beaten Chiefs 2-1 in a Betway Premiership match played at the FNB Stadium in Soweto last week.
Speaking to the media in Durban ahead of Saturday’s clash, Riveiro revealed that they will use the same game plan that worked for them when these teams last met.
“We don’t want to play the occasion, we want to focus on the game plan and focus on the way that we can beat Chiefs, and also they can beat us, so that we can avoid it (defeat),” said Riveiro.
“We’re going to try to make the Chiefs play badly. That’s the intention of the day.
“We’ve done it several times already together, and we want to make sure that we are there again,” he added.
Pirates’ Ncikazi expects tough clash against ‘good’ Chiefs
Meanwhile, Pirates assistant coach Mandla Ncikazi is expecting a tough encounter against “favourites” Chiefs on Saturday.
“We know we are playing against a very good team, Kaizer Chiefs,” Ncikazi said.
“The history of the two teams says they’ve played 23 times since the inception of this competition. We’ve won it 10 times; they’ve won it 13 times.
“Currently, they’ve scored 14 goals. I think they are the top scorers; they’ve only conceded two, so it’s not going to be an easy match, but as usual, we will play this match to try and win.”
Ncikazi went on to label Chiefs as favourites to win the final.
“History says the last time the two teams competed in a cup final was in September 2014. Chiefs won the game, the MTN8. They were the last winners at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.
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“We will give our best shot, but we are not the favourites. Being a favourite, it is very subjective; it depends on how you want to look at it.
“We don’t want to fall into the fallacy of thinking that we are the favourites, we are not, but Chiefs are the favourites,” concluded Ncikazi.
