Orlando Pirates defender Sandile Mthethwa has called on the club’s faithful to rally behind them, despite the humiliating loss against Mamelodi Sundowns in the Carling Black Cup final.
Pirates suffered a 4-0 thrashing to Sundowns in the Black Label Cup final at FNB Stadium on Saturday. José Riviero’s side defeated Kaizer Chiefs 6-5 on penalties, prior to facing Masandawana, who brushed aside AmaZulu in the opening clash of the four-team tournament.
Mthethwa was initially not voted into the Black Label Cup starting line-up by the fans, but came into the match day squad after Olisa Ndah was withdrawn from the team to honour his Nigerian national team call-up.
The Pirates youth product had loan stints with Richards Bay and Chippa United since he was promoted to the first team. He was recalled to the club for the 2022/23 campaign, to fight for his position under Riveiro.
He however, struggled to break into the Buccaneers starting XI since the start of the season, and only made his first appearance in the Beer Cup, and formed the defensive line that leaked four goals against the high-flying Sundowns.
“They [fans] must just keep on supporting us, I think we have a good group of players, and about the game it was unlucky for us that we only played the final game with 10 players on the field, and I think under the circumstances, we did very well,” said Mthethwa on Pirates’ official social media.
The Houghton-based side came into the tournament with their tails high, after beating Usuthu 1-0 last weekend, to lift the MTN8 trophy at Moses Mabhida Stadium.
Meanwhile, midfielder Ben Motshwari has welcomed the FIFA World Cup, and says it’s an opportunity for the club to regroup and come back stronger.
“It was not easy, because the first game we played against Chiefs we gave it our all and we went to penalties, but coming to the Sundowns game, I think they had more fresh legs than us, and most of us played the first game, so it was always going to be difficult for us, but we take the knock and go to the break and refocus to come back stronger.” said Motshwari.
The DStv Premiership will go into a break during the FIFA World Cup staged in Qatar and will resume on the 31st of December.
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