Pirates coach remains grounded after win against Celtic

Orlando Pirates coach Josef Zinnbauer will not allow the euphoria of winning the MTN8 make him assume the Buccaneers are world-beaters who can win whatever is on offer.

Pirates finally snapped their trophy-drought of six years by outclassing Bloemfontein Celtic 2-1 in the MTN8 final at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday evening.

Deon Hotto and Thembinkosi Lorch struck in either half for Bucs, cancelling out Celtic’s early goal scored by Siphelele Luthuli.

Zinnbauer, who joined Pirates in December last year, was reluctant to promise that the MTN8 would be the first of many trophies the Soweto giants would win this season.

The Sea Robbers still have a chance to win the league, the Caf Confed Cup and the Nedbank Cup.

“It [the MTN8] was the first time I’d had a chance to win a cup. Yes, last season we had a chance to win the league but other teams had better chances.

“There’s a long way to go before the next title,’’ Zinnbauer said.

“At the moment we’re not in the right position to say we can fight for the [remaining] titles or the league.

“There are other clubs ahead of us. We aren’t speaking about titles now.’’

The 60-year-old Bucs tactician dedicated his maiden piece of silverware on SA soil to his son, Fabio, who remains unconscious after being involved in a car accident in Germany two months ago.

“For me personally, it [the MTN8 title] is for my son Fabio. It’s a difficult time for my whole family ... to come back to Africa [while Fabio was still in coma wasn’t easy]. I hope we get him back.’’

Towards the end of October, Zinnbauer rushed to see Fabio in his native Germany, after their 3-0 thumping of Kaizer Chiefs in the first leg of the same tournament’s semifinal.

Meanwhile, reaching two cup finals in succession should act as motivation for Celtic, despite losing both.

Saturday’s final was their second loss in a row after losing to Mamelodi Sundowns in the Nedbank Cup in September.

Celtic coach John Maduka feels his side have done well by reaching the finals and should be proud of their achievement.

“There were eight teams in the competition, and we managed to get to the final. It is an achievement on its own,” Maduka said after the match.

“Especially, if you look at the teams we played against to reach the final [Mamelodi Sundowns and SuperSport United].

“We will try to motivate the guys even though it is not easy. Everyone badly wanted to win.

“We will try to motivate them so we can start winning games in the league.”

Nevertheless, Maduka was pleased with their performance.

“It is just unfortunate that we didn’t get what we wanted. When it comes to the game itself we started well until we got that goal,” he said.

“That was the whole plan — let’s get the goal early.

“After that we had a couple of chances where we could have finished the game, but we did not.” — SowetanLIVE