By KOPANO MONAHENG
GOALS, goals and more goals.
That was an outcry by Orlando Pirates FC head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou after their CAF Champions League match against La Cure Waves of Mauritius ended with his side winning the game 3-1 on aggregate.
Pirates came to this clash today with just a point from their first leg, which finished goalless last Saturday in Mauritius.
But Pirates had to do the job at home by making sure that they won the match with not just a small margin, but with more than five to seven goals, according to their coach, Ouaddou.
He said: “We have to give credit for the reaction in order to come back 3-1 and go to the second stage. It went well, but I cannot be satisfied with winning 3-1.
“I don’t want to go forward to win 3-1, and I cannot be satisfied with coming back in the second half and dropping the rhythm. If my players are satisfied with three goals, I think we are lacking ambition and we cannot go far.
“I’m sorry, I’m not going to lie to people. We need to take this job seriously. Football is about scoring goals. When you put five, six, seven goals, okay, no problem.
“But they have to understand that at the high level, the top level, the best footballers, it’s about scoring goals. I think that’s the expectation; that’s the mandate.
“The moment that I accept these things, I’m sorry, my job as a coach is to improve players for them to give their best, to win games with a winning mentality.
“And the moment that I accept this showboating, I’m sorry, you know what? I will leave the results, I will leave everything, pack my luggage and stop training because it will not be my world. My world is winning games.”
Ouaddou looked unhappy after the game. He believes the boys could have done better, but they lacked hunger and determination, especially in the second half.
Bucs supporters showed up in their numbers to support the boys, who will now face Namibian outfit African Stars in the second preliminary round of the 2026–27 CAF Champions League.
He told his players that he doesn’t mind them showboating if they are winning by a big margin.
Ouaddou went on to congratulate the opponents, saying that they gave them a great reception in Mauritius and that he was happy with the way they handled themselves.
“Really, I like the mentality that they showed today. So congratulations to the boys, congratulations to the technical staff.
“And again, I just repeat, thanks for the warm welcome when we went to Mauritius because it’s very important to mention it. Sometimes when you go to some other countries, unfortunately, it’s sometimes chaos in terms of the welcome.
“But it’s important to mention it. So thanks to the Mauritius Federation and the people of Mauritius.
“About the game, we didn’t start the game like we wanted because we conceded an early goal. It was a surprise for us. We didn’t expect this early goal.
“But I really like the reaction of our players. The reaction quickly to score two or three minutes after was really, really important.
“It proves that our team has resources, has character and has personality.
“I think the fact that we scored just after this goal gave us power and energy to lift the rhythm of the game.
“So after that, I was really happy about the way that we managed that game. You know, in terms of tempo, in terms of the aim to go forward, we managed exactly to rectify the small mistakes that we did in Mauritius.
“And I have seen some patterns and some work that we have done during the week, especially the way that we find the firm men behind the back four.
“But if I have to summarise the second half, I was not really happy about the second half. We dropped in terms of the rhythm. It’s not the rhythm that I was expecting in the second half.
“Again, I just repeat, last season the rhythm dropped. When we start not to be serious and when we start to make surebooting, we have to understand that if we want to win the Champions League, if we want to be ambitious and go far, we really need to understand that football is going forward, football is scoring goals.”
Ouaddou’s big target is winning the Champions League trophy, and if the players don’t show hunger, they might not achieve success
