Orlando Pirates Secure 1-0 Victory Over Las Palmas
Orlando Pirates wanted answers in Spain. They got one of the most important on Sunday night: this team can still defend.
A late strike from substitute Boitumelo Radiopane sealed a 1-0 win over Las Palmas, but the real story for head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou was what happened behind the goal-scorer. For ninety minutes, against seasoned European opposition, Pirates finally looked like a side that had remembered how to lock the door.
They have not been able to say that often on this tour.
A clean sheet with a point to prove
Coming into their fourth pre-season outing, the Buccaneers had been too generous. Goals conceded in each match, lapses in concentration, moments where organisation simply frayed. Ouaddou and his staff circled it as a problem. Then underlined it.
Against Las Palmas, the response was clear. The back line stayed compact, the midfield screened, and when the Spanish side tried to stretch them, Pirates shuffled across in unison. No gaps. No panic. No gifts.
“The objective today was, of course, to create chances, and not to concede a goal, because we’ve been conceding goals since the beginning,” Ouaddou said afterwards, satisfied but not triumphant. This was a box ticked, not a job finished.
He had pushed his players hard. “The players have been over 60 minutes, we pushed them for 90 minutes and I’m very happy about the performance,” he added, underlining the physical and mental demands placed on a group still feeling its way into the new campaign.
The result nudged Pirates’ pre-season record to two wins, one draw and one defeat. On paper, mixed. On the pitch, the curve is bending upwards.
Still fuming from Al Ittihad
Part of that edge came from a lingering sense of injustice.
Ouaddou is still carrying the 3-3 draw against Al Ittihad with him. Not the scoreline, the decision. “So yesterday, again, yesterday, I think I was very happy about the performance against Al Ittihad,” he reflected. The tone then shifted.
“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 kind of moment can drain a squad or harden it. Ouaddou chose the second option. He turned the grievance into a rallying point.
“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 message showed. They played like a side intent on proving a point to themselves as much as to anyone watching.
Youth steps into the spotlight
The winning goal came late, and it came from a fresh face.
Radiopane, introduced from the bench, provided the decisive touch with the sort of composure that makes coaches sit up. One chance, one finish. Clinical, sharp, unfazed by the occasion or the opposition.
Yet the goal was only part of why Ouaddou lingered on his younger players in his post-match reflections. This was not a token sprinkling of academy talent. This was a deliberate stress test.
“This team is the most youngest team that I could have put during this camp,” he said. That is not a throwaway line from a coach padding a narrative. It is a statement of intent.
“And they really responded very well in terms of aggressiveness, in terms of organisation, tactically. Tactically, they were very clever.”
Against a European professional outfit, that matters. The distances between players, the timing of the press, the patience without the ball — those are usually the first things to crumble when inexperience is exposed. Here, they held.
“So I think Orlando Pirates have a bright future with these young players,” Ouaddou concluded, and on this evidence, it sounded less like optimism and more like a forecast.
One more test, and a hint of revenge
The Spanish tour is not done yet. One game remains, and it carries a sharper edge than a standard pre-season run-out.
“We still have one game, a tough one again. The next game against Neom will be a revenge for us,” Ouaddou said, leaving no doubt about the emotional charge around the fixture.
Inside the camp, there is a sense of unfinished business. The sessions have been intense, the opposition demanding, the refereeing at times infuriating. All of it, though, feeds into a single purpose: to arrive back in South Africa ready for the grind of the Betway Premiership.
The trajectory is clear. Results have fluctuated; performances have not. They have climbed.
Ouaddou knows a tour is judged harshly if it fades at the end. He does not want a learning experience; he wants a statement.
“And I will be happy if we can finish this camp with a victory,” he said.
After a night in which his team finally married resilience with result, you get the feeling his players now expect the same.
