Orlando Pirates Achieve Defensive Control with Victory Over Las Palmas
Orlando Pirates finally found the clean sheet they had been chasing, and with it a statement win on Spanish soil.
A 1-0 victory over Las Palmas might look modest on paper, but for Abdeslam Ouaddou it ticked the box that has been nagging him all tour: defensive control.
Defensive steel at last
This was no exhibition stroll. Las Palmas asked questions, pressed high, and tried to drag Pirates into the kind of open contest that has cost them goals since the start of pre-season. This time, the South Africans refused the invitation.
Lines stayed tight. Distances were managed. The back four and midfield moved as one, and the lapses that had littered earlier games were largely cut out. For a coach who has been demanding more resilience, this was the response he wanted.
“The players have been over 60 minutes, we pushed them for 90 minutes and I’m very happy about the performance,” Ouaddou said, underlining how hard he has driven his squad physically and mentally during this camp. The mission was clear: “The objective today was, of course, to create chances, and not to concede a goal, because we’ve been conceding goals since the beginning.”
This time, the objective was met. Las Palmas were shut out. Pirates, at last, looked like a side that could suffer without breaking.
A tour turning point
The win came in their fourth pre-season outing: two victories, one draw, one defeat so far. The record is mixed, the trend is not. Performances have climbed with each game, the squad gradually absorbing the demands of a new technical regime.
That upward curve has not come without irritation. Ouaddou is still carrying the frustration of the 3-3 draw with Al Ittihad, a match he believes should have been a win.
“So yesterday, again, yesterday, I think I was very happy about the performance against Al Ittihad,” he reflected. “Indeed, it was a 3-3 because we have scored one goal that the referee refused. It was not a handball, it was a chest from Tito.”
That sense of injustice has been turned inward, into a challenge.
“And what I said to the boys, we need to find back our strength because it’s what makes the strength of Orlando Pirates.”
Against Las Palmas, that identity started to re-emerge: compact, aggressive, organised, and ruthless when it mattered.
Radiopane steps up, youngsters answer the call
The decisive moment came late, from a player who has heard his name linked to “potential” more than “decisive” in recent seasons. Boitumelo Radiopane came off the bench and finished with the kind of composure every striker craves on a European stage.
One chance. One goal. One reminder that Pirates’ future might already be inside the dressing room.
Ouaddou had leaned heavily into youth for this game, trusting some of the club’s least experienced players in a testing environment. They did not shrink.
“This team is the most youngest team that I could have put during this camp,” he explained. “And they really responded very well in terms of aggressiveness, in terms of organisation, tactically. Tactically, they were very clever.”
Against seasoned European professionals, the youngsters followed complex instructions, pressed with intelligence, and managed the game in the closing stages. For a club that prides itself on producing talent, it was a reassuring sight.
“So I think Orlando Pirates have a bright future with these young players,” Ouaddou added, the satisfaction obvious.
One more battle in Spain
Now comes the final act of the Spanish tour. One more game. One more test of how much this group has really grown.
The schedule has been unforgiving: intense training sessions, physical opponents, tactical demands that leave no hiding place. All of it designed with one purpose – to harden Pirates for the rigours of the Betway Premiership.
Inside the camp, there is no sense of a job done. Too many goals conceded early in the tour. Too many moments, like the disallowed strike against Al Ittihad, that still sting. The players know it. The staff know it.
Ouaddou is already looking at the next hurdle.
“We still have one game, a tough one again. The next game against Neom will be a revenge for us,” he said. “And I will be happy if we can finish this camp with a victory.”
The clean sheet against Las Palmas has steadied the ship. The emergence of Radiopane and his young teammates has lit a spark. Now the question is simple: can Pirates turn a promising tour into a powerful launchpad for their season with one last ruthless performance?
