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MICHO PLAYS MIND GAMES

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Orlando Pirates’ Luvuyo Memela jumps over Katlego Mokhuoane of Free State Stars at Orlando Stadium over the weekend.   Photo by      Themba Makofane
Orlando Pirates’ Luvuyo Memela jumps over Katlego Mokhuoane of Free State Stars at Orlando Stadium over the weekend. Photo by Themba Makofane

ORLANDO Pirates coach Milutin “Micho” Sredojevic is starting to sound like a broken record!

The Serbian mentor is trying hard to ignore the fact that the Soweto giants are the Absa Premiership title contenders, whether he likes it or not.

Despite being six points ahead of second placed Mamelodi Sundowns, who are tied with Bidvest Wits on 44 points, Micho didn’t entertain any thoughts of challenging for the title. He is playing mind games, even though his players are saying they are desperate to capture the championship.

Bucs survived a late scare to register a hard fought 2-1 victory over Free State Stars in a league match played at Orlando Stadium on Saturday night.

Musa Nyatama broke the ice via a penalty three minutes into the second half, while Justine Shonga added the second six minutes later. Eleazar Rodgers pulled one back for Ea Lla Koto, with eight minutes remaining.

Instead of talking about their push for the title with three games remaining, Micho instead warned his players not to lose focus.

Pirates have capitalised on Sundowns’ absence from the league to win three games in a row and put pressure on the Tshwane giants, who have three games in hand.

Micho said: “It was our third match in seven days and we are happy with the three points. But our focus now shifts to Maritzburg United for our next game. We don’t want to think about the title. We are now focusing on the next game and working on our performance. The Maritzburg game will be tough.”

He claims that his main objective is to guide the club back into the Caf Champions League next season.

Micho added: “We want to qualify for the Champions League, nothing more. The league and the rest is a bonus.”

But Man of the match Luvuyo Memela said the players have already started dreaming about winning the title.

Memela said: “The excitement is there and the mood is high in the camp. We can see that it’s close but we need to focus on the next match.

“Senior players Nyatama and Happy Jele are calming us down.

“They tell us not to get too excited. We can sense the title now, and we want to win it.”

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