Orlando Pirates are the highest scorers in the premier division in the calendar year of 2024 after netting four goals to advance in the Nedbank Cup, and head coach Jose Riveiro has revealed their secret.
The Buccaneers continued to run riot in the Nedbank Cup after thrashing AmaZulu 4-2 in the quarter-finals over the weekend, continuing with their rampant trend in the tournament, after also hammering Crystal Lakes and Hungry Lions 6-0 and 4-0, respectively.
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The Soweto giants, although not as ruthless in the league, recently trounced Golden Arrows 7-1 in the DStv Premiership, becoming the highest scorers in the league this year by far.
Pirates have scored 29 goals overall since the resumption of the season.
Riveiro, in his post-match press conference after eliminating Usuthu out of the Nedbank Cup, revealed that the secret to them scoring a lot of goals in recent matches is that they are managing to score early, which forces the opposition to come out and play, with the exception of Usuthu.
"For me, offensive football, there's a straight relation with confidence, that's the key right now for multiple reasons. We're in a good space, with confidence, we're comfortable, we're dominating the games," he told reporters at Moses Mabhida Stadium.
"And like I said, we're capitalizing. One of the key things in this league is to score early and then the scenario changes. It's difficult to score more than two goals if you're facing overloaded defence, for all of us in the league and all over the world.
"It's not easy, but when you manage to force the opponent to do something else than defend, then the game is different. In that scenario, right now we're feeling comfortable and that's why (we're scoring more), plus the quality we have," the Spanish coach added.
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Pirates will come up against AmaZulu again in their next DStv Premiership encounter on Saturday.
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