Ouaddou demands more from Orlando Pirates players after World Cup return

Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou says his Bafana Bafana players must regain full fitness and form quickly after returning from the World Cup, following a frustrating 1-1 draw with AmaZulu in Durban.

Eight Pirates players were part of the South Africa squad at the tournament in the US, Mexico and Canada: Sipho Chaine, Nkosinathi Sibisi, Kamogelo Sebelebele, Thalente Mbatha, Oswin Appollis, Evidence Makgopa, Tshepang Moremi and the departed Relebohile Mofokeng.

Ouaddou believes several of his international players have not yet made the expected impact since the new league season began. He praised goalkeeper Chaine and defender Sibisi for their performances against AmaZulu but said the team had effectively been operating with one or two players short.

“My worry is, when am I going to recover the international players fully? When will they be fully fit? Today I saw a fantastic game from Sibisi … he was top, he played his role today,” Ouaddou said.

“Sipho Chaine also played his role, but since the start of the season I am playing with one or two men down, so when am I going to recover them?

“I hope it happens as soon as possible because there’s an emergency since every point is very important.”

Moremi gave Pirates the lead in what was their second league match of the season. AmaZulu equalised after Sebelebele conceded a penalty, which Thando Ngwenya converted.

Makgopa and Mbatha were unavailable for the match because of knee injuries, further limiting Ouaddou’s options.

The coach said his players could not continue relying on the time they had spent at the World Cup as an explanation for their current performances.

“I need my international players to land on our planet … The World Cup in the US is finished. I need them to come to the party because in football you can’t wait … If we can wait for them until December for them to be fully fit, that’d be a problem,” the Pirates coach bemoaned.

Despite dropping two points, Ouaddou said he was not overly concerned about the result. He expects AmaZulu to make life difficult for many of their opponents at Kings Park Stadium.

“Look, I am not too worried about the fact that we will catch up the points that maybe we lost here, but again not many teams are going to win here against AmaZulu because they are a very good team with good players. I can guarantee you that not many teams are going to win here.”

Pirates will remain at Kings Park Stadium for their next league fixture, when they face Chippa United on Sunday at 15:00.