Abdeslam Ouaddou relives Morocco hurt after Orlando Pirates elimination

Pirates were bundled out of the continental competition at the preliminary stage after losing 5-4 on penalties, despite a gallant fight to win 3-0 at Orlando Stadium and level the score on aggregate against DR Congo side Saint-Eloi Lupopo yesterday.  

Ouaddou insists that the best team was eliminated in this game but calls on the players to use this as fuel to motivate them going into the remainder of the season. 

"It's a big one – the last [big] one was in 2004 when I was in the [AFCON] final against Tunisia with the fantastic team of Morocco, it's like that team," said Ouaddou.

"Sometimes it's the way of football and we have to accept it, unfortunately, but we don't have to go down, we have to keep the trust and keep our confidence.

"Because, like I told you, we have such an [important] competition coming up, so we don't have time to be disappointed, we have to get over the disappointment quickly because we have objectives coming up soon."

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The Moroccan admits that the elimination will be hard felt by the supporters, but says the players deserve the credit for their fight back and showing what they can do in the future. 

"I think, of course, when you're supporting Orlando Pirates and you love the club, you obviously have a lot of expectations from the fans, they can be disappointed of course," he added.

"But at the same time I think, if they have seen how the boys were fighting from the first minute and how they dealt with the game and the football they played, I think they can have some trust and confidence for the future of this team.

"Of course, I can understand the disappointment because everybody wanted to go through, we did our best, and the best team didn't go through in this stage."