This is the football I like” — Ouaddou crowns Masilela, and draws the line again
Abdeslam Ouaddou did not ask for fireworks. He asked for football.
After Orlando Pirates’ 2-0 win over Durban City, the coach pointed at Simphiwe Masilela and put the week’s whole argument in one name.
“If you see Masilela today… Well done,” said Ouaddou after the match. I am not asking for more. This is the football that I like.”
Simple. Clean. Efficient. No circus. “This is the high level and I push him to continue to be efficient like that and to play pure football, and to leave these other things behind. He must play simple football. I am happy and I have to say it.”
Those “other things” are the tricks that have followed Ouaddou all week — the showboating he has threatened to walk out over. On Thursday night he saw the opposite. A Diski Challenge graduate playing like a professional.
That, he said, is the job. “This is my job as a coach — to improve the young players to play this kind of football.”
He will not wrap them in cotton wool. A striker or midfielder can miss and live. A defender cannot.
“If you play as a defender, if you make a mistake there is only the goalkeeper behind you. So we sometimes have to accelerate the development,” he added.
“And for me, the way that I was developed, I will not caress the players and take time. Sometimes you have to push them… That is how I pushed Seema last season.”
Lebone Seema is now the centre-back Ouaddou calls the future of South African football. The method was not soft.
“If psychologically you are ready to accept when the coach is a bit hard with you, you will improve,” he added. “But if you are weak psychologically when the coach shouts at you — and I do not shout at my players to kill them. I want them to be the best.”
The destination is not a highlight clip. It is medals. Then Europe.
“I want them to keep winning titles with Pirates and maybe in the future play in Europe. So if I see these players performing, I am a happy coach.”
Thursday night made him happy. The young ones played like seniors. Masilela set the tone.
“Today I was happy about the young players. If you see me coming here wearing a clown uniform, it means there is something wrong.”
No clown kit. No circus. Just a coach going home to sleep happy.
“I train and I am happy to train professional players. High level players and today I had professional players on the field. And I was so happy, when I get home I will sleep good.”
