Why Pirates ‘have to be careful’ with young star Dansin
· Citizen
Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou praised young midfielder Cemran Dansin after his Man-of-the-Match performance in the Buccaneers’ 2-0 Betway Premiership win over Milford FC at the Orlando Amstel Arena on Saturday.
Pirates ‘ Ouaddou on ‘fantastic’ Dansin
Ouaddou, however, also sounded a word of caution on over-hyping the 21-year-old.
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Dansin burst onto the scene last season with his stunning Goal of the Season against Mamelodi Sundowns. He ended up playing only just over six hours of football for the Buccaneers, however.
Given a start in Pirates’ opening match of the new campaign, Dansin gave Pirates fans plenty of hope that he could develop this season into an even better player.
Ouaddou described Dansin as “fantastic” against Milford.
“I hope he continues that performance,” added the Pirates coach.
“We have have to be careful, because I have been in this business for a while. The boy is doing well. We took time to bring this youngster through. Last season, I put him in a very big game against Sundowns and he scored a fantastic goal.
“But we don’t have to burn his talent, we had to take it step by step. People didn’t understand why but we know what we are doing. We want to be careful … a career is long, he is doing well. We will give him all the trust and help to bring him up to a high level. He still needs a lot of work … but at the moment he is doing well.”
Dansin and other players may have to step up more if Pirates’ 2026 Fifa World Cup players feel the effects of fatigue this season. Oswin Appollis and Tshepang Moremi got the goals for Pirates against Milford but Ouaddou admitted he is worried about fatigue in his international stars.
‘We cannot afford it’
“It is not only us, many clubs are in the same way,” said Ouaddou.
“You can see it, and it is normal. We knew we would have these difficulties to start. They just stopped the World Cup and maybe had one week of rest. You can say it is not even physical, it is mental.
“They should have at least three weeks … but we cannot afford it because they are so important to how we want to play. We have to manage that and accept it.”