Thembinkosi Lorch picked up a muscle strain in Orlando Pirates’ final friendly match of the off-season which is why last season’s Premier Soccer League Player of the Season was out of the team for three weeks, Bucs coach Milutin Sredojevic has explained.
Lorch will be available when Pirates line up against Highlands Park in their MTN8 quarterfinal at Orlando Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Bafana Bafana attacking star made a return‚ having last played and scored a scorcher in the preseason Carling Black Label Cup on July 27‚ as a halftime substitute in Pirates’ 3-0 Absa Premiership defeat against SuperSport United in Nelspruit on Wednesday night.
Sredojevic said Lorch had pulled up with a thigh strain in Bucs’ preseason friendly against Tanzania’s Simba SC at Rand Stadium on July 31‚ four days after their 2-0 Black Label win against Kaizer Chiefs.
Asked about Lorch’s absence in Pirates’ 3-1 league win against Bloemfontein Celtic and 1-0 Champions League loss against Green Eagles in Zambia, the coach said: “After the Carling Cup we played a friendly match against Simba of Tanzania. And in one moment when we could see that he felt an injury we pulled him out as a precautionary measure.
“Between that friendly match and our coming matches we needed to have a strategy on what we wanted.
“Do you want to put your pillar player into danger where you can lose him for a longer term‚ or are you going to use him as per the combined medical and fitness advice of his present state?
“In that regard he was brought in last night [against SuperSport] as an impact of fresh legs in a situation where the team needed it.
“So any question as to why he was on the bench‚ or whatever‚ the simple answer is: his present state allowed him to have exactly the amount of minutes that he had.”
Lorch played a starring role‚ scoring the winner in Bafana’s 1-0 shock victory over hosts Egypt in Cairo in the Africa Cup of Nations in early July.
MTN8 quarterfinals
Saturday
Cape Town City v Polokwane City (Newlands Stadium‚ 3pm); Orlando Pirates v Highlands Park (Orlando Stadium‚ 6pm); Mamelodi Sundowns v Bloemfontein Celtic (Lucas Moripe Stadium‚ 8.15pm)
Sunday
Bidvest Wits v SuperSport United (Bidvest Stadium‚ 3pm)
Lorch is back after a muscle strain
Image: Gallo Images
Thembinkosi Lorch picked up a muscle strain in Orlando Pirates’ final friendly match of the off-season which is why last season’s Premier Soccer League Player of the Season was out of the team for three weeks, Bucs coach Milutin Sredojevic has explained.
Lorch will be available when Pirates line up against Highlands Park in their MTN8 quarterfinal at Orlando Stadium on Saturday evening.
The Bafana Bafana attacking star made a return‚ having last played and scored a scorcher in the preseason Carling Black Label Cup on July 27‚ as a halftime substitute in Pirates’ 3-0 Absa Premiership defeat against SuperSport United in Nelspruit on Wednesday night.
Sredojevic said Lorch had pulled up with a thigh strain in Bucs’ preseason friendly against Tanzania’s Simba SC at Rand Stadium on July 31‚ four days after their 2-0 Black Label win against Kaizer Chiefs.
Asked about Lorch’s absence in Pirates’ 3-1 league win against Bloemfontein Celtic and 1-0 Champions League loss against Green Eagles in Zambia, the coach said: “After the Carling Cup we played a friendly match against Simba of Tanzania. And in one moment when we could see that he felt an injury we pulled him out as a precautionary measure.
“Between that friendly match and our coming matches we needed to have a strategy on what we wanted.
“Do you want to put your pillar player into danger where you can lose him for a longer term‚ or are you going to use him as per the combined medical and fitness advice of his present state?
“In that regard he was brought in last night [against SuperSport] as an impact of fresh legs in a situation where the team needed it.
“So any question as to why he was on the bench‚ or whatever‚ the simple answer is: his present state allowed him to have exactly the amount of minutes that he had.”
Lorch played a starring role‚ scoring the winner in Bafana’s 1-0 shock victory over hosts Egypt in Cairo in the Africa Cup of Nations in early July.
MTN8 quarterfinals
Saturday
Cape Town City v Polokwane City (Newlands Stadium‚ 3pm); Orlando Pirates v Highlands Park (Orlando Stadium‚ 6pm); Mamelodi Sundowns v Bloemfontein Celtic (Lucas Moripe Stadium‚ 8.15pm)
Sunday
Bidvest Wits v SuperSport United (Bidvest Stadium‚ 3pm)
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