Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou blames the 'magic of the cup' for shock defeat on penalties to Casric Stars

The Nedbank Cup once again lived up to its reputation as a stage for giant-killing, with Orlando Pirates falling to second-tier Casric Stars on penalties in the Round of 16.

It was an evening to forget for Nkosikhona Ndaba, who missed in the sudden-death shootout, as the visitors capitalised on the opportunity to advance to the quarter-finals.

Although Abdeslam Ouaddou was disappointed with the outcome, he did not fault his players; instead, he blamed their lack of goals and defeat on the 'magic' of cup competition.

“It’s a very disappointing result just after the result of Sundowns. I think...you know, in football, especially in the cups, any team can challenge you for one minute in terms of the team spirit,” Ouaddou told SuperSport TV as per KickOff.

“I think congratulations to Casric Stars; they did the game they wanted, they waited, they gave us the length of the ball, and we found some opportunities. Unfortunately, we didn’t score after you gave motivation to these kinds of teams.

“In the second half again, we created some chances but didn’t score, so it’s the magic of the cup. For us, we’ll analyse and have to bounce back quickly because it will be very important, but congratulations to the players, the coach of Casric Stars, and the club.”

Even though the Moroccan mentor had a solid plan in place, it was simply not meant to be for the Sea Robbers.

“We tried to see some shape with Andre [de Jong] with the first line to try to create the draft and not give reference to the defence and to bring some speed on the side with Rele [Relebohile Mofokeng] and [Tshepang] Moremi. We managed to get the last run and create chances like I told you; unfortunately, we have to finish them," Ouaddou explained.

The 47-year-old will now focus on restoring confidence in his team as they look to bounce back and continue their pursuit of the league title.

"What I will tell them is we still have 13 finals upcoming, and nothing is lost about the league title, and we will find some resources like that. I won’t hide; it’s been a tough week," as per iDiski Times.

“We lost two games; it’s the second time it's happened to us if I count the first part of the season – so now we need to find resources like we did at the beginning of the season when we bounced back, and we won 11 games in a row. It's what we need to do now.”