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Pirates To Park The Bus Against Sundowns? Riveiro Responds!

Pirates To Park The Bus Against Sundowns? Riveiro Responds!

Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has explained how he plans to stop Mamelodi Sundowns' fearsome attack. 

Sundowns co-coaches Manqoba Mngqithi and Rulani Mokwena have been critical about teams sitting deep against them, playing with reinforced defences.

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That has resulted in the Brazilians not having too many clear-cut chances, as they scored late winning goals against Chippa United, Golden Arrows and AmaZulu. 

Riveiro was asked how he plans to stop Sundowns' attack and suggested that he will be relying on their strong defensive record so far this season. 

"As usual, we conceded three goals in previous games in the PSL, one in this competition, so we've been solid," Riveiro said in a pre-match press conference.  

Read: Downs Get Massive Boost Ahead Of Pirates Clash?

"In different scenarios against different types of opponents, of course we analysed what's coming and we know about their (Sundowns) capacity in the offensive phase. 

"It's gonna be the game about solidarity, concentration, commitment, all of those words we use as coaches to describe our team spirit," he said. 

"It's gonna be, one more time, I'm sure the players will show their capacity to suffer when we need to suffer during the games and to play those different games I've mentioned before. 

"But one more time, we'll approach the game as we usually do, we gonna try to get our role there and try to show our identity and defend when we need to defend and attack them when we have a chance to attack." 

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Sundowns have won the last five meetings between the sides in all competitions and Riveiro added that they won't focus on history, as they want to write their own story. 

"The past two seasons are not gonna play on Saturday, you can be sure about it, past is past, it's gone. So we try to look to the future with optimism and positivity," he went on. 

"Understanding that this is a different story, it's a different book this season and we have a chance to write our new history and that's what we're trying to do in every single game. 

"And again this is not an exception, it doesn't matter whether we're talking about semi-finals, two legs or Sundowns or whoever is in front. 

"We try to be ourselves, we're trying to build and grow our own identity, what we're trying to do is more important than only one game or isolate this game like something very special," he said.  

Read: Bucs Vs Downs: The Best Against The Best

"We gonna get an outcome very positive, if we manage to beat our next opponent and that's what we're looking for but again, we're just looking at today, tomorrow and that's it. 

"It doesn't make any sense for me to think about what was the result the last time the two teams faced each other because it's not gonna have a role. 

"Our players are very hungry and looking forward to this game because they are ambitious, they are professional and they are playing for Pirates to play these type of games, especially when we're playing at home," he added.

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