Orlando Pirates have gone four games without a win and are taking on Egyptian giants Al-Ahly in the semi-finals of the Confederations Cup.
|||How does a team that has not won a match in a month figure out a way to beat opposition generally regarded to be the continent’s best?
By rediscovering their confidence, that’s how.
“It’s about working on it (the confidence) everyday and hope it turns. And I know it will.”
Eric Tinkler, the Orlando Pirates coach is holding fort with the media corps in the bowels of the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane. His team have just played to a goalless Absa Premiership draw with Polokwane City, the result stretching the Buccaneers’ winless run to four matches dating back to August 22.
Back then Pirates beat AC Leopards to seal their spot in the Confederation Cup semi-final where they take on Africa’s most successful club – Egyptian giants Al Ahly.
The first leg of that tie is at Orlando Stadium on Saturday (6pm) and Tinkler knows only too well that anything less than a win will make reaching the final near impossible – Ahly renowned as a tough side to beat in their own backyard.
While disappointed at the failure to get wins, Tinkler remains confident Pirates can get the better of the Red Devils. He admits that because they’ve not won in a while, his team are low on confidence.
“You can see it (the lack of confidence) out on the park. The (poor) decision-making comes due to panic, sometimes; it’s hesitation, sometimes; it’s lack of confidence sometimes. Because we know we are better than that. I know that our decision-making is better than that. I know that our passing, which wasn’t that great today in that final third, is far better than what it was. And a lot of that comes from probably that lack of confidence.”
Whether he will get the team believing in themselves enough to get a positive result against Ahly is a question that will only be answered at the weekend.
And on the strength – or rather weakness – of the showing in Polokwane, there can be no denying Tinkler has a tough task on his hands.
To beat Ahly, Pirates will have to be much more clinical than they have been in recent matches.
“Overall, the performance wasn’t the best going forward. Today, with all the possession, there wasn’t enough penetration. Our decision-making was poor. We made the wrong pass or a bad pass. All the basics didn’t go right today. That was the disappointing part for me.”
One pleasing aspect for Tinkler though was the fact his team did not let in a goal, with Filipe Ovono pulling off some good saves – one of those splendidly made right before the final minute when he denied Puleng Tlolane what would have been the winner.
“Defensively we dealt with them very well. We kept a clean sheet and that is a positive,” reflected Tinkler. “We have been leaking goals and this (a clean sheet) is important going into this very, very important match (against Ahly).” - The Star
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