By KOPANO MONAHENG
MZANSI that moment we all have been waiting for has finally arrived – the Betway Premiership is back with a bang.
Saturday is the day when the defending champions Orlando Pirates begin the defence of their league crown against newly promoted Milford FC at the Orlando Amstel Arena.
Kick-off is scheduled for 3pm. Fans are looking forward to seeing the new signings do what they are good at doing, passing the ball around and scoring goals. This opening fixture of the 2026/27 campaign promises nothing but excitement as the Buccaneers look to start their title defence on a winning note, while Milford FC on the other hand will be eager to make a big statement by winning against the defending champions.
Speaking at the media briefing held at Rand Stadium, Joburg was head coach of Orlando Pirates, Abdeslam Ouaddou, who said their preseason tour in Spain was a success and they’ve a team that is ready to compete and defend their title.
“We have a structure,” said Ouaddou. “We have to be structured when we defend. We have to be structured when we attack. We have to know what happens when we lose the ball, when we have the ball. But I always like to have the players that can express themselves and they play freely and without conceding goals.”
When asked about the overall performance of the entire team during the preseason, whether he was happy or a lot still needs to be done to improve the team, this is what he said:
“We won twice. We drew once and we lost two times. Let’s say one time, because the other one I don’t want to count it. But I think I’m very happy about the preparation. The objective for that preparation was to give a lot of game time to most of the players as you know, we are going to play a lot of games this season, so it’s very important to keep everybody involved in the project.”
Pirates second target this season, according to Ouaddou was to ensure that the technical team know the capacity of every single player especially those who have just been signed by the club.
“It was an opportunity for us as well to be close to the players to try to know a little bit more of the new signings to try to integrate them in our team in our group to explain to them our principles, our game model, so in that part I think it was really successful,” he concluded.
Club captain Nkosinathi Sibisi is also happy how the new boys are gelling well with the rest of the team and they’re more than happy to meet any opponent in the league.
“We’re really looking forward to the game on Saturday and getting back to competition. But having said that, you know I think we also set targets for ourselves because you know it’s a different season, new ambitions, new players. You know we’ve been trying to integrate the players within the group, and so far so good. I think they are adapting very well,” said Sibisi.
