20.04.2025
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Pirates aim to defend Nedbank Cup trophy for third consecutive time

7 mins



  • Orlando Pirates players training ahead of the Nedbank Cup quarterfinal.

4 minutes

Orlando Pirates Coach Jose Riveiro says they embrace the challenge of playing in their third Nedbank quarter-final in a row. The Spaniard says Pirates will push hard to successfully defend their title and win the trophy for the third time in a row.

Pirates will come up against SuperSport United in the last eight on Saturday. But the struggling SuperSport’s main priority is to the start climbing the Betway Premiership ladder, as they find themselves fourth from the bottom of the log.

Under Jose Riveiro the club has won five trophies in a row and are vying for their sixth. In his first season in charge, the 49-year-old won the MTN-8 and the Nedbank Cup.

Then he went on to defend both titles last season.

So far this season, Pirates have the season-opening MTN 8 trophy in the cabinet and Riveiro says they are now targeting the Nedbank Cup for a third successive time.

“It’s time for us to give our best in each and every competition where we participate. Particularly, as a group, we have the ambition to from day one to play in every final, to play every last game of the competition with the possibility to be the number one in each every competition we participate in. We are realistic; we know the difficulty of being there in the last game of every competition but, so far, I think that kind of scenario, we did a good job as a team, (and) as a club.”

VIDEO| A conversation with Orlando Pirates players after winning the Nedbank Cup last season:

SuperSport assistant coach, Andre Arendse, will be in charge of the team this weekend against Pirates, due to the suspension of coach Gavin Hunt.

“It’s always a massive one for us and you know past battles with a team like Orlando Pirates have yielded some clinical displays from both teams and it’s a game. Us, as a club, going into (this) not in good form, back on not so good form, our league position will state that. What it does is, it gives us a break from the league so that we can focus on something different,” says Arendse.

Kaizer Chiefs, who are still in a rebuilding phase under Tunisian coach Nasreddine Nabi, hope to play CAF inter-club football next season.

“We are playing against a big team that is still even in the CAF Confederation Cup this season. With an experienced technical staff we believe that it’s going to be a very tough game and we don’t believe for one second that the last two positive results we got against them are going to count on this one,” says Nabi.

Sundowns targeting first trophy 

Only a few months after his appointment, Portuguese coach Miguel Cardoso, is already targeting his first trophy with Mamelodi Sundowns.

The run-away log leaders beat Sekhukhune United in a league encounter just over a week ago, their Nedbank Cup opponents on Saturday evening.
Sundowns last won this trophy in the 2021/2022 season.

“Regarding this match, despite that we played Sekhukhune not far away (sic), as you said, we believe it’s a different match and (now) because it’s a different competition; it’s one match  that will decide who will go through to the semi-finals of the Nedbank Cup. But anyway, eventually a different kind of approach for the match, eventually different players playing for both sides,” says Cardoso.

Meanwhile, Sekhukhune United confirmed the sacking of head coach Lehlohonolo Seema, a few hours after he addressed the Nedbank Cup media briefing in Johannesburg on Thursday.

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