Two domestic trophies within five months of joining Orlando Pirates as a head coach, it must be a fantastic dream for Moroccan born Abdeslam Ouaddou, who couldn’t stop beaming on Saturday evening at Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane. Ouaddou had mixed emotions after Pirates beat his former club Marumo Gallants 1-0 by a deflected extra-time goal of attacking midfielder Relebohile Mofokeng on a day when Pirates were bidding farewell to one of their most prized assets, defender Mbekezeli Mbokazi (20). Mbokazi has been signed by Chicago Fire in the Major Soccer League in the US and was given the chance to lift the trophy as stand-in captain on Saturday — his second trophy with Pirates since he began featuring in the senior team as a 19-year-old, left-footed centre back towards the end of last year.
But for Ouaddou adding the Carling Knockout Cup to the MTN8 he won earlier in the season (Pirates beat Stellenbosch 3-0) not only put glitter in his CV but he also maintains the trajectory Pirates were on before his arrival. Ouaddou’s predecessor Jose Riveiro left the Buccaneers having become something of a darling to the fickle Pirates fans after he won three MTN8 and two Nedbank Cup titles in three seasons. Having added another two, Pirates have collected a remarkable seven domestic trophies in the PSL in three and half seasons.
Success builds huge expectations and you easily become a victim of it. And so, as he takes an enforced six weeks’ break due to the start of the 2026 Africa Cup of Nations in his native country Morocco on December 21, Ouaddou will be aware of the big expectations that will include recapturing the Nedbank Cup they lost to their Soweto rivals Kaizer Chiefs at the end of last season and also win the Betway Premiership for the first time since 2012. It’s a huge task to achieve a quadruple in your first season, but that’s exactly what Ouaddou’s initial achievements with the Buccaneers have created.
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But for the guys who are going to the national team I will be watching the games and I will be close to them and we will evaluate their performance because I told them that they have to give 100% for the country. Reflecting on the task ahead after Saturday’s win, Ouaddou revealed his thoughts on the impact the Afcon break could have on his team. “Football is very difficult,” said Ouaddou.
“If you sleep and think you’ve reached your targets and think you’re the best, you can slip again. For us it will be important to keep working hard and be humble and to keep to the straight path in order to reach our targets. “The break comes at the right moment because we’ve played so many games (24).
The nation needs our players, the nation needs fit players and I want them (nine Pirates players in total) to give everything. It’s not a holiday for some of them; some will have the rest after this final. I can tell you that we’ll celebrate (Saturday’s win), but tomorrow I’ll start preparing (for the rest of the season) because I want to win (more) trophies. It’s very important for us.
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