Pirates set sail with Spanish coach

ORLANDO Pirates sprung the biggest surprise of the transfer window when they announced the appointment of Jose Riveiro as the club’s new head coach yesterday.

The Buccaneers are in the middle of reconstructing both their playing personnel and the technical team as they look to close the gap between themselves and Mamelodi Sundowns.

The Sea Robbers have not won a league title in 10 years, their last one coming in the 2011/2012 season, under Augusto Palacios. Their notable achievement last season was reaching the final of the CAF Confederation Cup, where they lost to Morocco’s RS Berkane.

Names like Benni McCarthy, Dan ‘Dance’ Malesela, Pitso Mosimane and Cavin Johnson had been linked with Pirates in recent weeks.

Spaniard Riveiro inherits a team low on confidence after finishing sixth in the league. The 46-year-old will look to thrust his ideas and ideology into the mindset of his players as soon as he can.

Riveiro is a fairly young manager in coaching terms. He served as an assistant for eight years between 2011-2019 at Finnish clubs like FC Honka, PK-35 Vantaa and HJK Helsinki before landing his first head coaching gig at FC Inter Turku, also in the Veikkausliiga.

At Inter he secured a league runners-up spot, which qualified the club for the Uefa Conference League where they were knocked out after two games. Riveiro managed 56 victories, 13 draws and 33 losses in his 102 matches in charge of the club.

Little is known about the Finnish football league, but the standards of their domestic league certainly hinders the powers of the country’s national team.

Finland is ranked 10 places above Bafana Bafana in the Fifa World Rankings in 59th, perhaps a reason why the Pirates hierarchy felt Riveiro’s appointment was no downgrade.

The exits of Thulani Hlatshwayo and Ntsikelelo Nyauza and the arrival of Thapelo Xoki and Nkosinathi Sibisi from AmaZulu and Golden Arrows respectively, along with the extension of veteran Happy Jele’s contract may have already been preparation for Riveiro, who reportedly prefers to deploy a 3-4-2-1 formation.