Timm confident Pirates will fare well in CAF group stage

Oozing confidence ahead of facing Ivorian side Stade d'Abidjan, Orlando Pirates' Miguel Timm has highlighted that they value the point they bagged against Al Ahly, also believing they have what it takes to reach the later stages of the CAF Champions League.

Pirates delivered a gutsy display to hold Ahly, who are a record 12-time Champions League champions, to a goalless draw in what was their second match of the group stages of this competition at Orlando Stadium last Saturday. Bucs face d'Abidjan away on Saturday in their third Group C clash (6pm SA time).

Bucs and Ahly are level on four points with the defending champions at the summit of Group C by a better goal difference while the Soweto giants are second. Pirates beat Algerian side RB Belouizdad away in their Group C opener, while Ahly thumped d'Abidjan in their first game of this pool.

“The approach has been to take one game at a time and that has been working for us. Our next challenge is in Ivory Coast and we are going there confident, knowing that we have the tools to compete with the best and I think we will show that against Stade,'' Timm said.

“We are confident even though this is a tough group, we have enough quality to push on and get to the later stages of the tournament.”

“It's an important point for us. It's the group stages, I think sometimes it's okay to get a point out of these games. It's still a long way to go, so I think this point will help us in the long run... it will be a precious point to count.''

Timm, who came on to replace Makhehleni Makhaula in the 82nd minute against Ahly, believes they could have won the game if they were clinical enough.

“We played the best team on the continent and we held our own. Honestly speaking, we could have got three points if we were more clinical in the final third but it wasn't to be and like I said, we gave a good show and we take the point,'' Timm stated.

Did you know?

Timm was born in Durban on January 31 1992 but was raised in Johannesburg. He played for Pirates' U-12 team before joining SuperSport United academy. Timm returned to Bucs as a veteran when he joined from Marumo before the start of the 2022/23 season.

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