Orlando Pirates landed safely in Malaga, Spain on Tuesday to begin their second successive preseason tour in the country featuring three high-calibre matches against some formidable teams.
The Soweto Giants will begin their preseason tour with a clash against Wayne Rooney’s English Championship side Plymouth Argyle on 12 July followed by La Liga Giants Sevilla on 15 July and they will close off the tour on 19 July by squaring off against Al Sadd SC of the Qatar Stars League.
In a video posted on the club’s X (formerly known as Twitter) account, the team looks to have hit the ground running despite landing in the country less than a day ago and in good spirits at the Marbella Football Centre.
Midfielder Thabiso Lebitso is currently having his first preseason camp with the Buccaneers having joined them during the January transfer window from Chippa United. He reflected on his first time in Spain with the team and said this is a great experience for him, the environment is different there, but they are adapting well.
“Yeah, it’s a great experience, I don’t wanna lie, it’s a very good experience but now I’m confused because now it’s 8 o ‘clock and I’m expecting that surely it needs to be dark and stuff but look at the weather, the sun is still out and it’s 8 o ‘clock so I can say it’s something that is different from me but obviously as an individual and as a group as well we just need to adjust to the situation and adjust to the weather,” said the former Chippa United player.
The 32-year-old added that the camp will assist him in getting to know his teammates better and elevate him as a player.
“The experience will be great, I believe it will be a great experience for me to get used to the players, get used to jellying with the players and obviously it’s my first preseason with Orlando Pirates so my expectation will say I’m here to improve, I’m here to do better than what I was doing in the past few months so I’m looking forward to it,” Lebitso concluded.
Pirates had an impressive 2023/24 season which saw them lift the MTN8 and Nedbank Cup trophies back-to-back. They finished second on the log with 50 points and booked a spot in the next edition of the CAF Champions League.
Written by Siphesihle Soni