Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou is concerned that fatigue for his club’s World Cup contingent could hamper their performances and says he will be closely monitoring the players over the next month.
Pirates had eight players in Bafana Bafana’s World Cup squad, although Relebohile Mofokeng has since departed for Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise.
In Saturday’s opening game in the defence of their Betway Premiership title, Ouaddou fielded Oswin Appollis, Sipho Chaine, Thalente Mbatha, Tshepang Moremi and Nkosinathi Sibisi just weeks after their return from the tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Evidence Makgopa, however, was not in the matchday squad.
Sibisi and Mbatha were guilty of several elementary errors while a tired-looking Apollis went off in the second half.
“Clearly we can see it, and it's normal,” Ouaddou said of the fatigue.
“We knew that they could have these difficulties to start, because they have only just finished with the World Cup.
“They had maybe one week of rest. So I can say it's not even physical, I think it's mental. To have the opportunity to have a break for at least three weeks is necessary for a professional footballer,” explained the Pirates coach.
Ouaddou said Pirates could not afford to give the World Cup players a longer break because they are “so important to how we want to play”.
“So we have to manage that and to accept it. We don't have the choice until December. And I hope it will not cost us too much in terms of what we want to produce, our ambitions, but we don't have the choice, unfortunately.
“A lot of coaches are in the same boat as us, a lot of clubs. We will have to deal with that, with the performance department, with the medical department,” he added.