Always happy to make his point: Pitso Mosimane |
Pitso Mosimane makes us laugh. Pitso Mosimane makes us cry. But
for all his post-match entertainment, it’s time to stop treating the 49-year-old
Mamelodi Sundowns coach as a joke.
After Tuesday night’s emphatic 3-1 defeat of Platinum Stars –
only Alan Freese’s second defeat at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium this season –
Masandawana are now just three points behind Kaizer Chiefs, though the holders
have a game in hand.
With Chiefs caught in the middle of an African Champions
League firestorm – they lost 3-0 against AS Vita in Kinshasa last week and face
an improbable mission to claw that deficit back at Soccer City on Saturday –
the AmaKhosi have plenty to worry about.
And Mosimane will be waiting to pounce at the slightest
hiccup. Goals from Surprise Moriri, Anthony Laffor and Lebohang Mokoena –
prompted by a resurgence from Teko Modise in Khama Billiat’s injury-enforced
absence – enabled Sundowns to do what Stuart Baxter couldn’t against the Dikwena a few
weeks ago, when Chiefs lost 2-0 in the North West.
And, as always, Mosimane entertained us with his post-match
analysis. Already he’s talked this season about his players “eating grass and
sweating blood” but this time we were told: "I have never worked so hard
on one game like this. I have never spent so long on my little CD player in the
bus.
"This was the game I really wanted to win, it was so
important. Coming here before and playing Platinum Stars, we haven't gotten
what we deserve. Tonight we got respect.
"Yes, this was one of my best games at Sundowns.
Tactically we were spot on. We killed their wingplay, we closed them down, we
were pressing from the top.
"This one I've
earned, I give the credit to… myself."
It’s tempting to laugh when Pitso comes out with such
self-glorifying clap-trap. But think about it. Mosimane’s Sundowns were too
much for Dutch legend Johan Neeskens. He couldn’t cope with the pressure of
running megarich Patrice Motsepe’s millionaires, just like Bulgarian Hristo
Stoichkov and Spaniard Antonio Lopez Habas before him.
With a host of coaches, accountants, managers and
technicians putting their oar in, Sundowns have failed to win the PSL title
since the glory years of 2006 and 2007 when they won back-to-back
championships.
Sacked: Bafana boss Pitso |
Pitso himself spent six years at neighbouring SuperSport
United, only to leave in service of his country, allowing Gavin Hunt to surge
to THREE successive PSL titles with Matsatsantsa
a Pitori immediately after Mosimane’s departure.
Mosimane served as Bafana’s caretaker and as an assistant under
Carlos Alberto Parreira and Joel Santana in the build-up to the 2010 World Cup,
dealing with language problems, misinformation and high expectations before he
was fired for narrowly failing to qualify, despite that awful victory dance,
for AFCON 2012 (he unfairly took the blame for misreading the rules) and
drawing with Ethiopia at home in the first game of the 2014 World Cup
qualifiers.
But in truth, Mosimane’s 24-month reign as national coach
wasn’t that bad at all. In 16 attempts, He won six, drew seven and lost just
three, a record as good as any who have attempted to steer the national side in
the right direction since the heady days of 1996.
Now he stands on the verge of greatness once more. He won
the Super 8 (2004) and Nedbank Cup (2005) at SuperSport and has steadied the ship with a Nedbank Cup semi-final appearance last season after taking over from Neeskens.
But the PSL title would cap anything he has achieved before,
not bad for a bloke who grew up playing “street football” on the dusty roads of
Kagiso as a kid.
Pitso was spotted as a player at amateur outfit Rockville
Hungry Lions by Jomo Sono and Stanley “Screamer” Tshabalala,
making his deut for Jomo Cosmos at 18 before he became the most expensive
player in the country when he moved to Mamelodi Sundowns – who else? – in 1985.
He won the League and Mainstay Cup double that season but
returned to Cosmos, where he scored 11 goals in their only title-winning
season, 1987.
After a brief stint at Orlando Pirates, in 1989, Pitso
played in Greece for six years at Ionikos FC before playing for Begium’s Rita
Berlaar and Qatar’s Al Saad FC Doh. He was capped four times by South Africa
and scored on his debut against against Mauritius in the African Cup of Nations
Qualifiers in 1993.
Pitso Mosimane started his coaching career in 1999 at the
Soweto football academy Barney Molokane – SuperSport took four of his players
and eventually Mosimane himself, first as a scout, then as head coach in 2000.
He was named South Africa’s Coach of the Year in the
2004/2005 season but in 14 years of
trying, he has yet to win the big one. As he so eloquently put it after the 4-1
Nedbank Cup win over Golden Arrows last weekend: “The team is good. The team is
strong. The team shows integrity. A lot of people are writing us off.
“We wish we could make everybody happy, but we are okay. We
are on the road all the time. We are building on the road and collecting
victories. We will see.”
With AmaTuks to play on Sunday, Sundowns could be level with
Chiefs before we know it. And nobody will be laughing.
You can also follow me on www.twitter.com/nealcol for all the latest sports news… and read my “Neal & Pray” column every Tuesday in www.thenewage.co.za.
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Nice take, Neal - as always. I wish he was coaching Pirates! @ThatsSenzo
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