Orlando Pirates' coach Abdeslam Ouaddou fails to impress in MTN8 semi-final

ORLANDO STADIUM - FOR A COACH under pressure to convince that he is the right man for one of the country’s toughest jobs, Abdeslam Ouaddou failed dismally in a match perfectly suited for him to win The Ghost over.

Beaten in the opening two matches of the Betway Premiership matches, the Moroccan needed to produce a result to silence those already claiming he is not good enough for the job of leading Orlando Pirates.

The 1-1 draw with Mamelodi Sundowns in Saturday’s MTN8 semi-final first leg might have got the Buccaneers faithful gleefully singing as they left the arena. But what Kamogelo Sebelebele’s late equalizer did was essentially paper over the cracks laid bare throughout this match.

Ouaddou is not the inspirational leader a team like Pirates need if they are to not only seriously challenge Sundowns for the champions but also beat them into adding a second star above the club’s crest by winning the CAF Champions League.

The draw was achieved in spite of him and not because of him. For the entire match, the 46-year-old was more a dispassionate observer than a conductor of his team’s play.

Appearances might just be for aesthetics, but sometimes they matter and even send a message. The one Ouaddou sent Saturday seemed to scream ‘this job’s too big for me’ his oversized clothes – from his puffer jacket and pants down to the shoes – giving him the appearance of an old man who should rather have been at a farm than on the sidelines of a professional football pitch.

As if that was not enough, his demeanour and mannerisms in the technical area cried ‘I’d rather be somewhere else’.

Naturally tall, the clothes gave him a languid appearance and he did not help matters by pacing about like an old man, his hands either locked behind his back or folded and even worse sometimes deep in the pockets.

Coaches are renowned for living every moment of their team’s matches, cajoling their players, encouraging them and even berating them for poor decisions. Damn it they are known to even harass referees.

Not so Ouaddou.

He was pitch side, but he appeared to be somewhere else, pretty absent from the action. And it was not surprising that his assistant Mandla Ncikazi – previously never one to stand up much – got actively involved with the coaching and continuously went to Ouaddou to whisper what was clearly advice as to what the team should be doing.

Incidents that would have had many coaches jumping up and down either with joy or anger hardly moved him, Ouaddou even remaining static when Evidence Makgopa’s shot bounced off the woodwork – his hands seemingly glued inside his pockets.

Comparisons in the game of football are commonplace and it is impossible not to wonder just what impact he would make compared to that of his predecessor Jose Riveiro who was loved by the fans and one who played a kind of father figure role to the players.

The Spaniard lived every minute of each match with the team, that trademark position he used to take on the edge of the technical area deep into matches now immortalized at the Buccaneers.

Ouaddou, is of course, different and it would be a bit unfair to expect him to be anything like Riveiro. But he is going to have to give some indication that he is part of the team; that he is involved in the match; that he is interested in what is happening with his team.

On the strength, some would say weakness, of how he carried himself against Sundowns on Saturday – Abdeslam Ouaddou does not inspire confidence that he has the qualities to lead Orlando Pirates, not only coach them but to glory.

And someone at Pirates please get him dressing up as immaculately as he did when he was still at Marumo gallants. Those oversized clothes just don’t match the Buccaneers’ recently acquired status as style kings of the Premier Soccer League (PSL).