Loss stuns Pirates
ORLANDO Stadium fell into silence as debutants Green Eagles ejected South African giants Orlando Pirates out of the CAF Champions League competition on a 2-1 aggregate scoreline in Soweto on Saturday evening. .
The Buccaneers supporters left dejected as they tried to fathom the fact that their experienced side had lost to Eagles side which in 2018 fought relegation at local level. Carrying a 1-0 advantage from the first leg, Eagles held Pirates to a 1-1 draw in the second leg to progress to the first round where they will face Angolan side Premiero De Agosto next month. Coach Aggrey Chiyangi said everybody had written them off, but with hard work and unity, they team flew past the Pirates. Chiyangi said he made sure the team marched the Soweto giants in defence and his boys did a good job. “I am very happy because football is played on the pitch and not in the papers. They talked too much and we played our game on the pitch. We had a good plan and the goodness is we scored which made it even more difficult for them as they had to score two more goals.
“I thank the players for working so hard and God is faithful. This is history and no one expected us to kick out Pirates,” he said.
He said the team will get back to work for their next assignment against Agosto.
Pirates caretaker coach Rhulani Mokwena said his team was just unfortunate to exit the competition.
“If you play the way we played, not just from the tactical perspective but also emotionally, to get the players to go to another gear and the players responded,”
“In the second half they put a lot of effort, they really poured their heart and soul. We were unfortunate, I think also we lost it away when we lost 1-0. But that’s how the cookie crumbles. It’s Murphy’s Law at the moment. Everything that could go wrong goes wrong you know,” he said.
Defender Happy Jele ended the goal-drought by heading home from close range in the 59th minute.
Pirates had hardly ended their celebrations when Eagles midfielder Amity Shamende fired home the equaliser a minute later, with a powerful shot into the bottom corner of the home team’s net.