The time has arrived for Orlando Pirates’ “Spanish Guitar” to belt out a tune for the ages, one that will etch him into the collective minds of the club’s fans, collectively known as The Ghost.
Pirates legion of fans are no slouches when a new coaching appointment has to be given a nickname and it has been no different with incumbent Bucs’ mentor, the Spaniard Jose Riviero who is monikered the “Spanish Guitar”.
Since his appointment by supremo Irvin “Iron Duke” Khoza to steer the Bucs sheep across stormy waters ahead of the 2022/2023 season, the Spanish Guitar” has tugged away at the heartstrings of the Pirates faithful with a melodious brand of attacking football that has yielded two successive domestic cup doubles in his two seasons at the helm of the Soweto Giants.
With two back to back MTN 8 and Nedbank Cup titles taking pride of places in the Sea Robbers’ trophy cabinet, The Ghost are now more than ever expectant of the 48 year-old “guitarist” from Vigo, Spain, to play his best concert yet, one titled “Winning the Betway Premiership”.
To aid his quest for a maiden league title since docking on South African shores, Riviero and the powers that be at Pirates have gone on a shopping spree that has landed the signatures of several talented players who are expected to provide competition to the ensemble that did duty last season and before.
The 23 year-old Angolan international winger Gilberto Miguel is quickly dancing his way into the hearts of Bucs fans, with his promising pre-season displays and hilarious dance moves fast making him a hit amongst the hard to please Buccaneers supporters.
Another 23 year-old in the form of Selaelo Rasebotja was roped in from SuperSport United to shore up the midfield, despite that department already boasting some of team’s best performers of the Riviero era including Miguel Timm, Makhehleni Makhaula, Siphelo Baloni, and Thalente Mbatha amongst others.
Lesser known signings expected to offer quality in depth in a campaign that will see the team compete in African club competition include goalkeepers Bayanda Zulu and Ethan Khel, right back Dimpho Madalane, and exciting midfielder Thuso Moleleki, all nabbed from lower division clubs.
Having beaten perennial league champions Mamelodi Sundowns in two domestic cup finals last season, Riviero and his men are now widely expected to put up enough of a challenge to end the Brazilians’ stranglehold on the domestic league title which they’ve won for each of the past seven seasons.
If a first PSL title since 2011/2012 is to be won come May 2025, they will need to fly out of the blocks, and that requires them to shake off their traditional slow starts to PSL campaigns which often lead to them falling short of title winning glory.
The domestic campaign kicks off this weekend with the MTN 8 Cup, in which winning four games can guarantee a newly adjusted windfall of R10 million, and in a cup competition that is fast becoming synonymous with Pirates, the club will be looking to make it three successive MTN 8 titles.
Their quarter-final opponents, the Gavin Hunt-drilled SuperSport United will be no pushovers, but if the Buccaneers positive pre-season results, which included a famous 2-0 win over Spanish giants Sevilla, are anything to go by then they will be expected to proceed to the semi-finals.
There is also continental club football in the form of the CAF Champions League in the offing for the Buccaneers who tackle CNaPs Sport of Madagascar in a two-legged first preliminary round fixture that they are expected to win, with the big goal for them being reaching the group stages.
For now Pirates has managed to hang on to their prized asset, teenage sensation Relebogile Mofokeng whose stellar performances last season have seen him becoming the subject of reported interest from Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers, and 17 time Austrian champions RB Salzburg.
At this stage, an overseas move appears unlikely for the Bucs’ number 38 with dancing feet, and the 19 year-old Mofokeng ace is expected to once more spearhead a fearsome Orlando Pirates in the new campaign in which they will look to win as many competitions as possible.
Having recently landed back in the country following their pre-season camp in Riviero’s native Spain, the affable Spaniard will hope his ensemble will have learned a few Salsa moves to which they will dance when he belts out the tunes from his “Spanish Guitar” in their quest for Betway Premiership glory.
IOL Sport