PSL can't accommodate all top talent – Riveiro

Orlando Pirates mentor Jose Riveiro believes SA’s 16-team Premiership is insufficient to accommodate all the talent the country boasts, hence there are good players in the lower tiers that improve the likes of Dondol Stars.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Nedbank Cup quarterfinals draw, where they were pitted against the only remaining lower league side in the tournament, Dondol, at SuperSport Studios in Randburg on Monday, Riveiro reasoned teams from lower leagues manage to knuckle down against Premiership sides because they have equally astute players, who only find themselves down there due to the scaled-down elite league.

“SA is a football country with a population of 80-million, if I am not mistaken (in fact the current SA population is estimated to be 60-million, according to Stats SA). With only 16 teams in the first-tier, that’s not room enough for all the talent you have in the country… so that means in the second and third divisions, you’ll find talent and well-organised teams. It’s very dangerous to face and deal with teams from lower divisions in 90 minutes,” Riveiro explained.

ABC Motsepe League’s Dondol will be Pirates’  third lower division opponent in this season’s Ke Yona Cup after beating second-tier’s All Stars and Venda Football Academy in the first round and the last 16 respectively. Venda gave the Sea Robbers a run for their money, taking them to extra-time, before Thembinkosi Lorch’s 113th minute strike gave them a 2-1 win, while they had managed to make light work of All Stars, dispatching them 2-0.

Riveiro understands Dondol, who’ve already knocked out two top-flight sides in SuperSport United and AmaZulu, will be a tough nut to crack. Even so, the Buccaneers tactician has vowed they’ll make life difficult for the minnows from Mamelodi, relying on the lessons they learnt against All Stars and Venda.

“It’s going to be a difficult task one more time for multiple reasons but it’s going to be even more difficult for them. We need to remember the things that we learnt from the two games in this cup we played against the lower division teams,” Riveiro said.