BUCS GETTING BETTER
COACH Josef Zinnbauer doesn’t consider himself the “Special One”, saying the fact that Orlando Pirates are thriving under his stewardship is purely based on hard work and the fact that Lady Luck is finally smiling on the team.
In the last four matches, there’s been a storm of resurgence that’s been brewing at Pirates, after enduring turbulent times in the last six months following the sudden resignation of Micho Sredojevic.
Floated
After the Serbian-born coach left the team after two league games this season, his then-assistant Rhulani Mokwena held the fort on an interim basis. During his spell the Buccaneers fell from the dizzying heights of being title contenders to a team that floated in the bottom half of the log standings.
Early in December, the 34-yearold coach’s reign came to an abrupt end as the Pirates board officially replaced Sredojevic with the then-unknown German, Zinnbauer.
The latter has diligently gone about his business, though, bagging 10 points from a possible 12.
On Wednesday night, Zinnbauer’s troops brought the Kings of South African soccer, Mamelodi Sundowns, to their knees as they pulled off a famous 1-0 victory at Orlando Stadium.
This was Pirates’ first win over
IN THEIR bid to conquer domestic football in the last few years, Mamelodi Sundowns have had to overcome a number of obstacles.
And that’s why defender
Wayne Arendse is not fazed by this week’s back-to-back league clashes against rivals Orlando Pirates and Supersport United.
In the last six months, the Kings of South African football have undergone somewhat of a rollercoaster ride amid their attempts to balance between their domestic and continental duties – after the two campaigns started simultaneously in August.
In Africa, the Brazilians have gone about their business with aplomb, qualifying for the CAF Champions League knockout stage with two games to spare after topping Group C with 10 points after the fourth round of the group stage matches.
However, their domestic league the Brazilians at home in nine years. In the bigger scheme of things though, Sundowns’ defeat ensured that log leaders Kaizer Chiefs consolidated their nine-point lead at the top.
But far from taking the credit for Pirates’ sterling end in 2019 and start in 2020, Zinnbauer says the togetherness in camp, hard-work and luck are the fuels behind the team’s resurrection so far.
“We work with the players every day, and we have individual talks. form is yet to hit the top gear. The champions are in second-position with 32 points, nine behind log leaders Kaizer Chiefs.
Sundowns, moreover, have disappointedly dropped points when it mattered the most.
On Wednesday night, they suffered a 1-0 defeat to Pirates.
That must have knocked Sundowns’ morale, especially with their next assignment away to neighbours Supersport United, who are third on the log and trail Chiefs by 10 points.
Despite the turbulent period, Arendse believes it’s too early to press the panic button, saying they’ve won the league before through winning the gruelling catch-up games of their congested schedule between domestic and continental duties.
“It doesn’t matter who you play, all the games are tough. We’ve been in this situation for
I don’t think (I am doing anything different) from other coaches in Africa, Europe or wherever,” he said.
“I have my philosophy. I speak with the players. Together, we make the training sessions, breakfast, lunch or dinner. I make things that other coaches make too.”
Zinnbauer continued: “The other coaches know the same things that I know, there’s nothing special. Maybe we have luck at the moment, I don’t know. But when you work hard, you get luck and many years now, where we play back-to-back (tough) matches – even in different competitions. But we have the squad for it,” he said.
“Everybody is ready to go. We’ve been in this situation where we play Wednesday and Sunday, it doesn’t matter who’ll you be playing but it is going to be tough because everybody is scrapping for points now.”
With Sundowns’ loss to Pirates on Wednesday night a dent to their title defence aspirations, that further increased the volume to the “outside noise” that has prematurely crowned Chiefs the league champions.
Should that become a reality, Amakhosi would break the record, that they jointly share with Sundowns, of having won 12 league titles apiece.
But with 13 matches and 39 points still up for grabs, before then you get success. So, these are the things that I do. There’s normal feet, balls and shoes.”
Sure, the 49-year-old coach remains adamant he’s not had much influence on the sudden resurgence at the club, but there’s been an overwhelming feeling of confidence from the playing personnel in all three playing departments.
Against the Brazilians, Pirates kept their first clean in seven matches, while Fortune Makaringe’s showboating effort in the middle of the park in the second half didn’t ruffle any feathers for Zinnbauer, despite leaving Sundowns’ coach Pitso Mosimane agitated.
Up front, Gabadinho Mhango continued with his rich vein of form.
The Malawian’s 30th minute goal earned the home side all three points, while further increasing his tally to 11 goals this season.
“It’s not the first goal that we’ve scored (from such moves) but I think that the team has improved in the training sessions and they want new inputs,” Zinnbauer said.
“We have (Luvuyo) Memela
(who assisted Mhango’s goal), he had a great game. He found a solution. I saw it in the TV replays. It was great passes between the lines, and it’s something that it’s not easy. He worked against the ball.
“I don’t know (how many goals) Mhango has scored now or what he drinks during the week. But he works hard and against the ball.” the curtain comes down on 2019/20 domestic league season, Arendse believes there’s still a lot that could unfold.
“We’ve been in a situation where we were 12 points behind, and we ended up winning the league – but there, we had games in hand,” he said.
“There’s still time to catch up. But we are not going to hide about it, we want to defend our league title and we are going to push until the last moment.”
Sundowns’ biggest blemish this season is the fact that they’re not scoring goals, while they’ve not been as solid at the back as they usually are.
However, having had three days to recuperate, the Brazilians will be hoping to have ironed out a few issues when they meet with the high-scoring Matsantsantsa A Pitori.