Leal welcomes mid-season hiatus

Orlando Pirates coach Julio Leal feels that his side will be better in the Premier Soccer League after the mid-season break.

The Buccaneers ended the year in fine style by beating Golden Arrows 2-0 at Orlando Stadium on Wednesday to move to fifth position on the league standings.

“I’m happy because we won the last game at home which is a gift to our supporters who have supported us very well this season,” Leal said.

“We are still not doing well in the league. We expected to win the last game (Celtic) and then with three points today, we would be in a comfortable position. But we have the qualities to start well in the second round,” he added.

Leal feels that if they can show the same fighting spirit, the Pirates can go all the way in the New Year.

“The team spirit that we have is good and we are confidence we can go all the way in the League. At the beginning of the season we had difficulties because we played to many friendly games.”

“There are games that we played and lost away and if we can turn that around and win more of the away games then anything is possible.”

“It was done last season with the same squad and hopefully we can have good preparation time during the upcoming break because that what lacked at the beginning of the season due to the many friendly games we played.”

“Now we will have five weeks to prepare, we have planned it and we will be in better condition and will be capable of fighting back in the League and in the Nedbank Cup because we are the defending champions.”