On Monday, Orlando Pirates assistant coach Sergio Almenara responded to
Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Rulani Mokwena’s claims that Pirates always
injure a player when they face each other.
Mokwena had previously mentioned that Sundowns have lost players to
long-term injuries, such as former midfielder Haashim Domingo, after
playing against Pirates in a pre-season Carling Black Label Cup game.
He also attributed the injury of Abubaker Nasir to the Buccaneers’
physicality after the Ethiopian got injured against Jose Riveiro’s charges
last season. In a press conference, Almenara suggested that Sundowns are
actually the ones with an unusually high number of fouls against them for
a team that plays possession-based football.
“The data says the last time we played against Sundowns they committed 24
fouls and Pirates committed six,” Almenara said.
“The data also says that Sundowns’ average fouls per game is almost 17,
in the top two, in both competitions, PSL and MTN8 and in a
possession-based team, you should calculate how much time they are out of
possession, divided by the number of fouls they are committing.”
The Brazilians’ senior coach Manqoba Mngqithi, who was sitting next to
Almenara in the press conference, also had his say on the matter and
suggested that their fouls are tactical fouls and that they do not harm
anyone with those fouls.
“We have not really harmed any opposition with those fouls, those are the
fouls to make sure we don’t lose the balance in transition and that we’re
in a better shape to be able to deal with a counter-attack,” Mngqithi
said.
With the MTN8 final between Pirates and Sundowns set to take place on
Saturday, both teams will be looking to put the fouls and injuries aside
and focus on the task at hand.
