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Bongani Maseko, Lioli FC, September 2025Backpage
Kiplagat Sang

Lioli FC coach Bongani Maseko clarifies 'Orlando Pirates were not good enough' claims but warns 'one day something will happen and we will meet'

Before the second-leg encounter, reports emerged that the tactician had referred to the Premier Soccer League side as an overrated club. In what was seen as an act of revenge on these sentiments, every time Bucs scored, Abdeslam Ouaddou celebrated towards the Lioli technical area.

  • Oswin Appollis, Tshepang Moremi & Cemran Dansin, Orlando Pirates, September 2025Backpagepix

    Overrated Pirates?

    Lioli FC head coach Bongani Maseko has broken his silence over claims he referred to Orlando Pirates as an overrated team.

    Lioli and the Soweto giants met in the CAF Champions League first preliminary round, and the showdown was quite overshadowed by claims that Maseko said Bucs are an overrated team.

    However, he has stated what he really said and what he did not.

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  • Bongani Maseko, Lioli FC, September 2025Backpage

    Record set straight

    “I don’t know because the last time I checked, all my interviews, even that one [before the second leg], I said Pirates were not good enough. I did not say they were overrated. There is a difference,” Maseki said, as per FARPost.

    "And I keep on saying, even before the game, I said Pirates have a good coach, and they have good players. Even now, I’m still saying that; it is a fact," he added.

  • Bongani Maseko, Lioli FC, September 2025Backpage

    'I will come back'

    In a very confident statement, Maseko said he hopes to meet the Sea Robbers again in the future, and he is adamant he will have the last laugh. The tactician was visibly angry at Ouaddou's antics of celebrating towards their dugout area when Pirates scored.

    “So I don’t know why he did that [celebrate towards the dugout], but I’m a young coach, and I wanted to say this, ‘I will come back; we’ll meet with a better team one day,’” he said.

    “I have that confidence that one day something will happen and we will meet [Pirates in the future] with the better team, and then we see that… but I don’t want to create that dialogue, but I still maintain he [Ouaddou] is a good coach; he has good players and a good team, hence the scoreline."

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  • Elimination

    Pirates masterminded a commanding victory over Lioli over the two legs, winning the first match with a 3-0 scoreline before finishing the job at Orlando Stadium with a 4-0 win.

    This is a game in which Bucs players showed individual and collective brilliance. While Tshepang Moremi and Yanela Mbuthuma grabbed braces in the second leg, Sipho Mbule was also impressive and was praised by head coach Ouaddou.

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