Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou revealed that key players could return to his line-up soon as the Buccaneers prepare for another cup title charge.
While newcomers Andre de Jong and Daniel Msendami were given their debuts off the bench in Pirates 2-0 win over Magesi at the Orlando Amstel Arena on Saturday, some established names were missing from the Buccaneers line-up.
Bafana Bafana stars Sipho Mbule and Evidence Makgopa were missing from the teamsheet.
Makgopa started for Pirates in their first game of 2026 against Sekhukhune United at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on 24 January, while Mbule was not in the matchday squad for the clash against his former side.
Neither player was on the bench or in the starting XI for the Buccaneers 2-0 victory over Magesi on Saturday at the Orlando Amstel Arena.
Ouaddou chalked this up to squad rotation and the tactical demands of Saturday’s fixture, with the Moroccan tactician correctly assuming Magesi would set up in a low block and clearly believing other options better for the task.
“So it [was] simply a tactical choice, you know, regarding the profile of the opponent,” said Ouaddou, speaking after his side’s first victory of the year.
The Moroccan tactician hinted that both players may return to the field soon, with an important league clash against AmaZulu on Tuesday.
“We have a lot of games coming, especially next week. We play against AmaZulu. We have the cup. We are going to play every three days. So it’s very important to manage the players,” he said.
The Buccaneers have already won two domestic cup competitions this season, the MTN8 and the Carling Knockout Cup, and Ouaddou made clear that his side would be challenging to complete the set and win all three, with the Nedbank Cup set to kick-off this coming weekend.
“I’d like to tell you that we are going to approach that competition the same way that we have approached all the competitions since the beginning of this season. Every game that we are going to play, we play them to win. Every competition that we start, we start this competition to win,” said Ouaddou.
“it’s really, really an important target for us. We will have time to think about it because we have a Betway premiership game coming. But what I can assure you is that it’s really a competition that we are going to take seriously and we will put the strongest team.”
Pirates will begin their quest for a third Nedbank Cup in four seasons on Saturday as they face Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila of the ABC Motsepe League at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
