We’re cooking, says Pirates coach Riveiro after Cup win over Sundowns

He rarely shows his emotions or boasts about his achievements and when Jose Riveiro tried to paint a picture of how his hard work is paying off, the Orlando Pirates coach could only provide his regular wry smile while acknowledging his team is indeed “cooking”.

“Cooking” in SA football lingo means the team is performing at its optimal best, and Riveiro could not be denied that label after leading Bucs to a remarkable fourth trophy in five cup tournaments that have been played in his two Premier Soccer League (PSL) seasons.

Pirates defended the Nedbank Cup coming from behind to beat Mamelodi Sundowns 2-1 at Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga on Saturday, where the 19-year-old Relebohile Mofokeng further underlined his potential when he scored a brilliant last-gasp winner.

“I know we’re cooking,” Riveiro said in his post-match press conference as he gave Pirates eight out of 10 reflecting on their performance in the 2023-24 season.

Bucs defended two trophies (the other was the MTN8) and finished second in the PSL behind seven-time successive champions Sundowns, though by a huge 23 points.

“We’re cooking. The evolution of the team this season is superior to last season. If that means eight out of 10 or seven-and-half, I don’t know.

“It might be our fans or the media who will in the end judge the work we do. Now with this cherry on the top, everything looks even better. But there’s still a big room for improvement in the future, and it depends on us.” 

The Spaniard showed his tactical acumen with his master plan of having Pirates’ most in-form players — Tshegofatso Mabasa, Kabelo Dlamini and Mofokeng — on the bench with a view to introducing them in the second half to change the complexion of the match.

“Imagine if it didn’t work,” a smiling Riveiro said.

“But we’re here to make decisions and try to make decisions that we feel are going to help us win the game. We have many players on form and the ones who didn’t start today were regulars in recent games.

“They gave us amazing moments in the last games and it was hard for me not to start with them. But we know what these types of games [require], and when I say ‘know’, it is in plural, not only myself.

“The whole group knows we need to dominate different games during a game. [Evidence] Makgopa, for example, [started] instead on ‘Tshego’ [Mabasa].

“But like I said before the match, you have to accept that with Sundowns you have to spend more time far from [Downs goalkeeper Ronwen] Williams than close to Williams, and Evidence can help a lot in that scenario.

“The speed of [Monnapule] Saleng and capacity of [Deon] Hotto to repeat efforts and to hold [Sundowns right-back Khuliso] Mudau in positions that Mudau was forced to play in the first half, there’s a lot of components.

“And now, when we’re the winning team we can say that the plan works. But that’s not [only true] because of the result.

“We’re happy with the plan. Sundowns were really good in the beginning.

“We knew, or expected, that in the last 25 minutes we would get control of the game and would have the capacity to continue having a decent pace on the pitch with ‘Rele’ [Mofokeng], Tshego [coming on].

“But in the end we chose a different way with Dlamini and [Patrick] Maswanganyi in the middle to get that control. There’s many components where when we win it’s fine and when we don’t it’s rubbish.

“We know what it takes to win these kinds of games. We needed to be prepared for that game that would be played after 60 or 70 minutes, when you're at 1-1. Overall the guys did a good job.”