Orlando Pirates Secure 1-0 Victory Over Las Palmas

Orlando Pirates wanted answers in Spain. They got one of the clearest yet in a hard-earned 1-0 win over Las Palmas – a result built not on flair, but on something their new head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has been demanding all tour: defensive steel.

This was no gentle pre-season run-out. Las Palmas, with their European polish and sharp movement, asked questions of a Pirates back line that has creaked too often in recent weeks. This time, it held. For 90 minutes.

The clean sheet mattered almost as much as the victory. Maybe more.

Defence first, finally

From the first whistle, Pirates looked like a side that had heard enough about their soft centre. The line was higher, the distances tighter, the concentration sharper. Where gaps had appeared in earlier games on this Spanish tour, there were now bodies, tackles, and clearances.

Ouaddou has been blunt about his priorities. The numbers told their own story: goals conceded in every match since the start of pre-season. That had to stop. Against Las Palmas, it did.

“The objective today was, of course, to create chances, and not to concede a goal, because we’ve been conceding goals since the beginning,” he said afterwards, clearly satisfied with what he had just watched. He pushed his players to go the distance. “The players have been over 60 minutes, we pushed them for 90 minutes and I’m very happy about the performance.”

The pressure finally told in the right way. Pirates didn’t just hang on; they grew into the game, trusted their structure, and waited for their moment.

Radiopane steps up

That moment arrived late, off the boot of a young man desperate to make his case.

Substitute Boitumelo Radiopane, thrown on to change the tempo, delivered with the kind of composure that makes coaches sit up. One chance, one ruthless finish. In a match defined by discipline and patience, his intervention carried a different kind of energy – instinct, confidence, conviction.

It was the decisive action in a game where the margins were thin and the lessons thick.

For Ouaddou, Radiopane’s winner was more than a goal. It was proof that the club’s younger talents are not just along for the ride on this tour; they are ready to carry weight.

“This team is the most youngest team that I could have put during this camp,” he explained. “And they really responded very well in terms of aggressiveness, in terms of organisation, tactically. Tactically, they were very clever. So I think Orlando Pirates have a bright future with these young players.”

Against seasoned European professionals, those youngsters didn’t just survive. They executed complex instructions, stayed organised, and showed the kind of maturity that usually comes with years, not minutes.

Controversy, character and a rising curve

This win over Las Palmas was Pirates’ fourth outing of pre-season: two victories, one draw, one defeat. On paper, mixed. On the grass, the curve is bending upwards.

Just 24 hours earlier, Ouaddou had walked away from a 3-3 draw with Al Ittihad feeling both encouraged and aggrieved. Pirates had the ball in the net again, only for the referee to rule it out.

“So yesterday, again, yesterday, I think I was very happy about the performance against Al Ittihad,” he recalled. “Indeed, it was a 3-3 because we have scored one goal that the referee refused. It was not a handball, it was a chest from Tito.”

The injustice stung, but the coach turned it into a challenge rather than a complaint. “What I said to the boys, we need to find back our strength because it’s what makes the strength of Orlando Pirates.”

That message carried straight into the Las Palmas clash. The response was visible in every duel, every recovery run, every organised press. This was a team rediscovering its identity, piece by piece.

One game left, and a score to settle

The tour is not over. One match remains, and it is not just another friendly on the schedule.

“We still have one game, a tough one again. The next game against Neom will be a revenge for us,” Ouaddou said, leaving no doubt about the emotional charge around that fixture. “And I will be happy if we can finish this camp with a victory.”

Revenge. Not a word coaches use lightly in pre-season, when the usual talk is of “minutes in the legs” and “working on combinations”. Ouaddou has gone a different route. He wants edge. He wants hunger. He wants a group that feels there is unfinished business before they fly back to South Africa.

That mindset feeds directly into what awaits them at home. The Betway Premiership is unforgiving. Sloppy defending gets punished. Young players are tested weekly. Teams that switch off don’t compete for titles.

This camp in Spain – the gruelling sessions, the tactical demands, the controversial calls, the late winners – has been designed to harden Pirates for that reality. Two wins, a draw and a defeat tell one story. The way they shut out Las Palmas, with a young side, under pressure, tells another.

The last word of this tour will come against Neom. If Pirates finish the way they defended here, the rest of the league will know they are coming back with something sharper than just pre-season fitness.