Royal AM ‘froze’ against Orlando Pirates says coach

Royal AM coach Khabo Zondo has lamented his side’s lack of big match temperament after an MTN 8 exit at the hands of Orlando Pirates.

Pirates beat Royal AM 2-1 but Zondo believes that both of their goals were gift-wrapped his team who couldn’t rise to the occasion.

Royal AM flop under pressure

Royal AM have ambitions of putting some silverware in their newly acquired trophy cabinet but won’t be lifting too many trophies with performances like the one they put in on Saturday.

“Firstly well done to Orlando Pirates, they gave a good fight and they took their chances but I thought we gave them those two goals, easy for them,” Zondo told SuperSport after the game.

He added: “But at the end of the day we also fought towards the end, our second half much better. Certain players froze, maybe respecting Orlando Pirates, I don’t know.

“But it happens in the game, the game looked like it was a cup match. It had it’s moments where you thought Pirates would score as well because they also got chances they could have finished. But we also had our own chances we could not finish.”

Orlando Pirates more than happy

Meanwhile, Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro was bursting with pride after his team booked an MTN 8 semi-final place.

The latest Orlando Pirates news: Saturday 27 August 2022

“Extremely happy with the result but more than that extremely happy with the performance today,” Riveiro told SuperSport after the game.

“I think we did it very well in different phases, the game has different moments, both teams with different approaches. We got an advantage very soon which us very important in these type of games.

“Because the opponent needs to immediately react and play more open. It was a pity that we could not finalise the game before, with some transitions we had in the first-half and some mistakes we provoked in the pressing,” he said.

“But we did not suffer so much, we conceded one goal we could avoid in the second action but the way these guys are fighting every three days is something to put really in value. We are very proud of them.”