Many believe that the injury talks of Orlando Pirates star, Thembinkosi Lorch is not true and that Lorch could be on his way out from Pirates. Hence coach Jose Riveiro’s refusal to issue a Lorch injury update when asked by media.
The Bucs coach claimed that he does not issue updates on individual players when asked by reporters after their 2-0 defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus Stadium on the 30th of December 2022.
Yet surprisingly, Riveiro seems to have a short memory or rather a selective memory. He was clearly able to give an update on Evidence Makgopa’s injury last year, which goes very much against his statement after the Sundowns game.
“I said already that Evidence is doing a good job,” he said during the pre-match press conference for his side’s MTN8 semi-final second leg against Mamelodi Sundowns as quoted by iDiski Times.
“Unfortunately, we couldn’t use or know the guy better during the pre-season because he got an injury early.
“Now he’s ready to compete, that’s why he was in the last two games 20 players’ list. Let’s see, when is his time, I cannot say in advance when he is going to get the opportunity or minutes or if I know I’m not going to say.”
From the above it is clear that Riveiro does comment on the status of injured players. He even went as far as to say that the Makgopa is now ready to compete! Yet when it comes to Lorch, Riveiro claims that he does not comment on individual players injury status! The question that needs to be asked is why the club and the coach are reluctant to comment on Lorch’s injury status? Why is Riveiro misleading the media? It is standard practice all over the world to update the fans on players injury status. This just leads to wild speculation. Is the player injured or are the club protecting the payer from something else or is the player being punished? We don’t know and the fans deserve to know.
Lorch has been heavily linked with a move to Mamelodi Sundowns in the few past months, but what made the matter more interesting is when the 2019 Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season was linked with Pitso Mosimane’s Al Ahli.
After the Buccaneers’ coach refused to discuss Lorch, it is believed that the coach maybe be hiding some information surrounding Lorch’s absence. The Pirates fans deserve to know more.
The 29-year-old super star has only featured five times this season in the DStv Premiership. And he couldn’t score any goals or to even assist.
Also Read: Jose Riveiro Refuses To Talk About Lorch’s Absence
