Milutin “Micho” Sredojevic, is optimistic that the “football gods” will eventually reward Orlando Pirates for the mesmerising football that they display on the field. Three seasons ago, Pirates endured their worst finish in the PSL as they found themselves flirting with relegation.
Enter Sredojevic a season later and there was a new sense of belief and confidence in the Pirates camp as they went on to finish as runners-up for league title that year. Albeit being trophy-less, the Ghosts’ faithful understood it was a season of rebuilding as they pinned their hopes of claiming silverware to this season. So far, things haven’t gone as planned especially after losing out on the MTN8 and Telkom Knockout. Sredojevic though is hopeful that the return of the glory days in Orlando is get closer.
“Since we’ve been together since 2017, we believe that we’ve moved so much (towards the right direction),” Sredojevic said.
“We believe in the league, we are the team with the highest percentage of possession, and highest number of entrances in the last third. We are also focused on scoring more than conceding. Such approaches have helped us to believe that we are heading in the right direction in terms of results. And continuing in such a fashion, we have no doubt that football will pay us back”
The other two competitions might have eluded the Bucs, but the Nedbank Cup that commenced on Wednesday offers them another opportunity to have a go at a piece of silverware. In the past, it has been their rescuer as it remains the last trophy that they claimed five seasons ago. That feat took them back to continental football courtesy of the Caf Confederation Cup, where they finished runners-up to Etoile du Sahel.
However this campaign’s competition will require the Buccaneers to dig deep as they open their last-32 encounter against top flight returnees Black Leopards at Thohoyandou Stadium tomorrow. Leopards have made their hoe ground a fortress this season. In their three league matches at home this year, Leopards have collected seven points out of nine. But Sredojevic is optimistic his team will be able to overcome the intimidating atmosphere in Thohoyandou.
“We respect the opponent, and the outside factors like the weather, and their supporters but we want to give our all,” he said. “We are looking forward to an open game, where two boxers will want to punch each other and let us see who will beat who. But we are expecting that with the quality of our players, we’ll be able to turn approach that we’ve had into results that will make us achieve our targets of getting the trophies.”
Sredojevic’s counterpart tomorrow, Dylan Kerr is also no a stranger to winning trophies. During his 16-month stint with Kenyan giants Gor Mahia he bagged two Premier League championships. His giant-slaying tactics were also evident after leading the Kenyans to the Confederation Cup group stage last season.
“I know that he has established himself on Africa continent as we seen from Gor Mahia last year,” Sredojevic said. “We respect that but we our focusing on ourselves. ”