The Moroccan coach of Orlando Pirates, Abdeslam Ouaddou, is building on a spine of leaders, with goalkeeper Sipho Chaine at the forefront, ahead of the CAF Champions League second leg against African Stars.
Orlando Pirates are chasing qualification for the CAF Champions League group stage. According to Goal South Africa and IOL, the South African club won 1-0 in Gaborone, Botswana, against Namibian champions African Stars in the first leg of the second preliminary round. The only goal of the match was scored in the 75th minute by striker Tshepang Moremi.
On Monday, head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou, a former Morocco international, explained the workings of his game model. In particular, he highlighted the importance of his spine, with goalkeeper Sipho Chaine as its figurehead, while calling for caution before the second leg.
A spine of leaders
“You see, in my game model, in the way that I’m coaching, I have always given importance to the whole team, of course, to the players. But you always need a spine, and the spine is the goalkeeper, the pair of central defenders, the six, the ten and the nine. And I need to have a leader in every line. It’s important to have a well-oiled machine. You need to have strategic leaders in every line,” Ouaddou told IOL and DailySports. The Moroccan coach thus makes his goalkeeper Sipho Chaine the vocal and tactical leader of this backbone.
Chaine’s statistics, reported by DailySports, illustrate his output: the South African goalkeeper has kept 11 clean sheets in the Pirates’ first 15 matches this season, in all competitions. Across the whole 2025/2026 Betway Premiership campaign, which Orlando Pirates won, he recorded 21 clean sheets in 30 matches played, according to Goal South Africa.
That defensive record fits into a solid collective tally. Since the start of the season, the Buccaneers have 12 wins, 2 draws and just 1 defeat, conceded against Mamelodi Sundowns in the MTN8 final, according to DailySports.
Adaptation and caution before the second leg
Ouaddou also stressed his players’ ability to adapt to extreme conditions, comparing his troops to “soldiers on a mission” capable of performing in the heat and on difficult pitches. “My boys did well, we started how we wanted, no surprises about the opponent, we had good information from my analysis department, well done to them, the first half we adapted well to the conditions, the heat, the pitch as well,” he told Goal South Africa.
Despite the first-leg win, the Moroccan coach refuses to get carried away. He urged his players to avoid any complacency before the decisive second leg, Briefly / IOL reports. Qualification for the group stage is therefore not yet secured. The second leg is set for Friday 23 October 2026 at Orlando Stadium in Soweto.