Nobody should be blamed because if there was a damage done in this tie over two legs, was in Congo last weekend where the opponents were allowed to score three unanswered goals and that made things almost impossible for Orlando Pirates Football Club in return leg and even myself with limited knowledge of football, I didn’t see how Orlando Pirates will score three goals without conceding but they have done it and that for me was commendable because they didn’t even inspire much confidence in front of goal against Polokwane City midweek so the boys have done so well to have forced the game to the penalty shootout where they came short after Mbuthuma missed penalty and Hotto saw his saved.

From the psychological aspect, St Eloi Lupopo won the battle because due to lack of VAR, the match officials couldn’t track the incident of Mukoko of Nemtatjela of which led to the two red cards for both sides instead of Lupopo right back being the only player who was supposed to be sent off. It was an emotional game and players were always going to react towards any injustice especially playing at home but it showed lack of mental strength at this level because opponents are always going to provoke you into action of works against you.

The red card to Moremi took place just before half time of which would have made things different had it only been Lupopo who got red and at that moment, Orlando Pirates were robbed an opportunity to have numerical advantage but that was not why they are knockout it’s those three goals conceded in Congo.

From the tactical aspect, coach Abdeslam Ouaddou shown that he’s tactically flexible enough to try and find solutions for the problems in front him and to see him starting without a recognized striker, said a lot about how they have planned going into this game and it’s unfortunate that people will always focus on results but if we are to go beyond, we can clearly see that we have a coach who’s very smart tactically and he’s also able to make changes quickly at half time to readjust his tactics in relation to how the opponent were behaving tactically. I’m super proud of the performance the boys put in and I believe that fellow Buccaneers may be disappointed by the results but not performance.

Preparations for the match during the week:

ways try put everything into consideration and one of the most important thing to consider is that, two of the three goals conceded against Lupopo away in Congo on Sunday afternoon, came in the last ten minutes of the game of which it’s very disappointing. Now based on that, a 3-0 scoreline may not be a true reflection of the game because I also saw some clip of which I believe it was from the same game where Bucs hit the upright while the score was still 0-0 and had it gone in, it could have easily been a different ball game altogether. So I want to believe that inasmuch as I believe that the boys should have defended better in all the goals, a three nil scoreline was not necessarily a true reflection of the game.

Coming into the second leg, it’s going to be very difficult for Bucs to get at least three goals without a reply from the opponents especially based on how ruthless and opportunistic they looked on transitions and in any lapse of concentration from Bucs defensively. Can Pirates score three goals and at least force a game to penalties, most definitely YES but they do that without opponents scoring? Much will depend on how quickly Bucs get their first goal. If Abdeslam Ouaddou’s men get a goal in the first 20 minutes and get another one before half time against opponents who are likely to sit on medium to low block and rely transitions and set pieces, it will open the game up in the second half because they will be unsettled and starting to panic and my fear is that it’s during that moment where they can get one goal of which could drain all the energy from the boys because now Bucs will have to score at least five goals.

Orlando Pirates conceded first against Sundowns at home in the MTN8 semifinals first but they managed to bounce back and find an equalizer going into the second leg in Atteridgeville. Once against the Brazilians took the lead and Bucs showed mental resilience to come back to get a goal the leveled matters forcing a game into penalties where they eventually won. That’s something positive showing that the boys can turn a setback into a setup for victory but unfortunately, Caf champions league is unforgiving in such a way that the mistakes that you normally get away with in domestic competitions, are punished brutally and that’s what happed in Congo on Sunday. I think Bucs is capable of scoring goals at home against St Lupopo but I don’t think it would be enough to help them progress as Lupopo is most likely to score at least one goal at Orlando and progress to the group stages at the expense of Orlando Pirates Football Club. I don’t see any hope of Bucs progressing to the group stages.