Johannesburg - Orlando Pirates’ co-coach Mandla Ncikazi says Simba SC are well articulated and schooled when it comes to delaying and fabrication tactics.
On Sunday night, Pirates made passage to the CAF Confederation Cup semi-final after defeating Simba 4-3 in the lottery of penalty shootouts at home, the Orlando Stadium, in the second leg of the quarter-final.
The Bucs came into this encounter trailing 1-0 after the loss in Tanzania in the first leg. But a second half strike from Kwame Peprah in the return leg in Soweto ensured that two teams were level on 1-all after regulation time before the match went straight to penalties.
Pirates were the better side of the two teams, having dominated from start to finish. However, they couldn’t kill the game in normal time as they missed chances.
But what irked Ncikazi the most was the Tanzanian’s delaying tactics as that killed the momentum of the game.
“I must be honest with you, this team is well trained in delaying tactics. Whoever has coached them to do that should not be part of the game,” Ncikazi said in his post-match press conference.
“They played for penalties. But I think even outside (of the game) it was important for Pirates to be composed. The team is very intelligent in terms of the social media invasion. They've been trying to destabilise us for the whole week.”
A week ago, Ncikazi held court in the bowels of Benjamin Mkapa Stadium, Dar es Salaam, after Pirates 1-0 defeat to Simba in the first leg of the quarter-final.
The 53-year-old lambasted the Tanzanian giants for hostile treatment during the trip to East Africa, saying they were “treated like animals” as there was no regard for Africanism.
Simba didn’t take the matter, with the club declaring in an official statement that there were not actions of some sort that were imposed on Pirates as they gave them the best hospitality, while they’ll take actions against Ncikazi.
“I’ve never seen people that are not wrong in any scenario,” Ncikazi said in Orlando. “We are not the only team that had issues with them. I think all the teams that visited that country and team had issues.
“But for them to come out and deny and even say ‘when teams come there, we offer them coffee’ (is worrying). If it’s what they offered us, coffee, then they’ve really got a bad coffee. I’m okay with that coffee.
“But you can see they are well schooled. They are articulate in their fabrication that happens there. My only concern, they must sweep that. It’s not good for them.”
Simba crashed out of continental football in the quarter-final of the Champions League last season after losing to Pirates’ arch-rivals Kaizer Chiefs 4-3 on aggregate. Amakhosi won 4-0 at home in the first leg before losing 3-0 in the return leg in Dar es Salaam.
“You can see in their history, they do very well at home. But when they go away, they don’t win,” Ncikazi added.
“For me, that’s an indication that something wrong happens there. I don't want to repeat that. They’ve got good energy to do all the fabrication.
“Channel all that energy in the right direction by working on the team to be successful. So that they can play away and play a fair game. What they do in their country is not football. But it is their strategy and it works for them.
“But a good advice: they’ve got good energy; they are articulate and have people that have got degrees from London. But that is not football related.
"Channel that into football and that will help them a lot.”
Pirates will face Libyans Al Ahli SC in the two legged semi-final of the Confederation Cup.