Orlando Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer is happy with midfielder Ben Motshwari’s call-up to the Bafana Bafana squad for the national team’s very important Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers against Ghana and Sudan.
Motshwari was one of the scorers when the Buccaneers walloped Chippa United 3-0 in a DStv Premiership match at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha on Saturday evening. Deon Hotto scored as well with Chilli Boys defender Riaan Hanamub scoring an own goal.
“I’m happy, he deserves it. Congratulations to him. I think the call-up gave him motivation,” Zinnbauer said.
Coming back to the match, Zinnbauer reckons that it was a very good outing for the Soweto giants.
“I think it was a very, very good first half, we scored two times. Second half, our focus was more on counterattacks. I’m happy about this,” Zinnbauer said.
Chilli Boys coach Dan Malesela, meanwhile, admitted that they made costly mistakes during the match starting with goalkeeper Ayanda Mtshali whose mistake resulted in Hotto scoring for Pirates.
“Look, we made mistakes. The first mistake changed the whole thing. At times we succumbed under pressure. These are things we are used to. We should be able to handle them,” Malesela said.
“But also we had some players, who were hiding in the first half. I wasn’t pleased with that. We made changes and got better in the second half. And eventually they started defending. I saw many things that went wrong in this match.”
Next up for the Chilli Boys is a home clash against AmaZulu at Mdantsane’s Sisa Dukashe Stadium on Wednesday (17h00).
