WATCH | Ouaddou back to lead Pirates to Wafa Wafa final

Despite wearing an arm sling after being involved in a road traffic accident 10 days ago, Orlando Pirates coach Abdeslam Ouaddou was in high spirits as he took charge of Tuesday's training session.

Ouaddou started by cheerfully greeting members of the media, before he entered the pitch to train his troops at Rand Stadium on Tuesday morning, ahead of Saturday's MTN8 final against Stellenbosch at Mbombela Stadium.

On August 31, a day after their 3-0 league thumping of Chippa United at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Ouaddou was, alongside five other Pirates technical panel members, involved in a road accident on the R21 highway near the OR Tambo International Airport when they tried to assist on another accident scene.

“Orlando Pirates Football Club can confirm that head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou and five members of the club’s staff were involved in a road traffic incident on Sunday night,” the club's statement read.

“The incident occurred on the R21 highway as the team returned from Gqeberha, following their hard-fought 3-0 victory against Chippa United. Upon encountering a collision between two vehicles, coach Ouaddou and several staff members disembarked from the team bus to assist those involved.

“Tragically, while attending to the scene, a Nissan NP200 vehicle collided with the stationary vehicles, striking the group and causing serious injuries.”

Meanwhile, Pirates goalkeeper coach Tyron Damons, who's believed to be one of the five technical team members affected by that road accident, was not seen at training on Tuesday. Pirates trained without several key stars such as Sipho Chaine, Relebohile Mofokeng, Thalente Mbatha, Mbekezeli Mbokazi and Sipho Mbule among others as they are all away on international duty with Bafana Bafana.

SowetanLIVE