NEWS NOW: Play is suspended league-wide after Orlando pirates official and politician attacks a referee..

Orlando Pirates facing a measure of pressure in the form of three must-win early season games has helped in developing the maturity in their squad as the league season approaches, Bucs coach Jose Riveiro says.

Pirates swept SuperSport United aside 3-1 in the MTN8 quarterfinals to earn a place in the semifinals, where the defending champions meet Cape Town City in the first leg at Cape Town Stadium on Tuesday (7pm) and then Orlando Stadium in Saturday’s second leg.

After that good season kickoff a side that has developed a reputation for being slow starters in Jose Riveiro’s two seasons that have yielded four domestic cup trophies saw off CS-Disciples of Madagascar in the Caf Champions League first preliminary round.

Bucs drew the away leg in Mauritius 0-0 then brushed the islanders aside 4-0 in Friday’s return leg at Orlando.

Riveiro was asked what Bucs have gained from their three high-profile knockout games.

“I think it’s a strange season right now. We have played three ‘finals’ already and the league hasn’t even started and football didn’t even start for most PSL teams,” he said, referring to the extraordinarily late September 14 kickoff for the Betway Premiership.

“It’s an opportunity for us to become more mature. It’s one of the things we can do better as a group — we cannot hide ourselves right now because every football fan is watching us right as no-one else is playing.

“So I guess if you want to see football in South Africa right now it’s been about Pirates.

“And the boys are doing a good job. They managed to get the results, managed to put us in a final having another opportunity to play in the [MTN8] final and having the team in the next [Caf] preliminary round again.

“So I think it’s good for maturity and that’s what we need to capitalise on out of these first three games of the season.”