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Cape Town - Orlando Pirates head coach Eric Tinkler feels the break in club football for international matches has comes as a significant benefit to his beleaguered squad.
The Buccaneers were unable to enjoy an off-season due to their successful run in the CAF Confederation Cup, where they are through to the semi-finals, and Tinkler admitted he was happy the players were able to have some rest during the FIFA international break.
"The FIFA break really helped us as a team. We have some of the players who have played more games and needed some rest," he told Soccer Laduma.
"Of course there are other players who continued training because they haven't been as busy as the others, so we had to give time out to the ones who needed rest and that's why I am saying the break helped us. "
His side takes on Zamalek in the final game of Group B in Egypt on Sunday to determine which side finishes top and gets the away draw for their semi-final.
"Now we will be focusing on Zamalek and we want to come back with a win and finish the group on top so that we can start the semi-finals with an away game," Tinkler concluded.
In essence, though, the match is effectively a dead rubber as both teams are already guaranteed their spot in the next round.
