Bukasa breaks down the tactics used against Pirates over two legs

Lupopo beat Pirates 5-4 on penalties after the tie finished 3-all on aggregate, having won 3-0 at home and lost by the same score at Orlando Stadium. 

But it is how they beat Pirates in Lubumbashi that got everyone by surprise, for a team that hadn’t conceded a goal in nine matches. Bukasa explains the approach that they adopted for the two matches.

"I think yesterday, I said that the key of the game will be emotion management. I think that's where we were strong today, we managed our emotions really well because we suffered too much, from our landing here to now, we are still suffering,” Bukasa said.

“The game was not easy, in front of us, a very big team with good players. We knew that we would suffer and we accepted to suffer and when we conceded the third goal, I told the guys that now we must just keep quiet, we don't have any pressure, Orlando Pirates is a big team than us.

“If we don't qualify there's no problem. If they don't qualify there is a big problem, so they have to be under pressure, not us, that's why we remained calm during the penalty kicks."

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Bukasa says mental strength was key for his team in achieving this result. When Pirates equalised with a late goal from Oswin Appollis, the majority of Lupopo players on the pitch were on the floor. 

But they recovered and went on to take the penalties successfully. The 38-year-old coach explains how they managed to work on the players' psyche.

"I think the key of the game was not only tactical, tactically we tried to contain things and attack. Even today, we see that we got some opportunities on the back of the defence because they are attacking too much and leaving some spaces in the back of Mbokazi [Mbekezeli] and Seema [Lebone]. 

“We got some opportunities but unfortunately my striker got a problem and when we put him out, we saw that the block became difficult for us. But I think the key we used in that game is the mental one, we knew that we will suffer and we accepted to suffer and to catch our opportunities and try to score when we get our opportunities in Lubumbashi."

Bukasa, who also doubles up as the DRC U20 head coach and, according to the latest information that SABC Sport has just seen, was not supposed to sit on the bench in the CAF inter-club matches, after he was sanctioned by the continental football body for disciplinary actions from the AFCON U20 in Egypt earlier this year.