Orlando Pirates coach, Jose Riveiro, says he will not rotate his squad when the Buccaneers take on Venda Football Academy in the Nedbank Cup.
The Buccaneers will host the Motsepe Foundation Championship team on Saturday, a week beating Swallows 4-1. Despite chasing Caf Champions League spot and Nedbank Cup, the Spanish-mentor will not rotate his squad.
“We don’t rotate players especially now that we are playing one game per week,” the Pirates coach said during the Nedbank Cup media day.
“If you see any change from the team that played against Swallows [last week] it’s because someone is not available or because the coach decides to introduce different player, different profile, different adjustment but not because of rotation.
“We can only talk about rotation in a situation where we have to play a game every two, three or four days. But right now, that is not the case. Our next opponent will be one week after this game.”
The 47-year-old says he has already done his home on his Nedbank Cup opponents.
“Our coaching staff had an opportunity to watch a couple of their games live, nowadays if you don’t get the information about your opponent it’s because you are not doing your job. That is not our case.
“We tried to know as much as we can about our opponents, it doesn’t matter which division they are in. If you talk about comparisons between All Stars and Venda – they are totally different teams. FC All Stars is a well organised team on the ball giving importance to the possession. Venda is a bit more physical, they try to arrive in the half of the opponent as soon as possible. But it’s difficult especially against a team like that.”
By Zola Doda