Unfinished Business: SuperSport United FC Coach Pitso Mosimane's Afcon Ambition
SuperSport United FC coach Pitso Mosimane has set his sights on winning the Afcon trophy with Bafana Bafana, having won 19 major trophies with the club and other teams.
Mosimane, 62, has been recommended by the South African Football Association (Safa) to succeed coach Hugo Broos, who recently returned to Belgium after five successful years at the helm of Bafana.
The technical committee of Safa, led by chair Jack Maluleke, has obliged and recommended Mosimane as coach, but the key issue in the delay is that Mosimane's representatives want his salary to be the same as Broos's - R1.2m a month.
Mosimane also wants trusted lieutenants - fitness trainer Kabelo Rangoaga and performance analyst Musi Matlaba - to get full-time contracts as members of his staff.
What Happened?
Mosimane dominated the club scene, locally and on the continent, to the point where he is considered one of the best coaches Africa has produced. However, that reputation, which has meant he is in high demand for lucrative coaching jobs on the continent as well as in the oil-rich Middle East, hasn't doused his ambition to coach a national team to Afcon championship.
Why it Matters for SuperSport United FC
Mosimane's return to Bafana is a significant development for SuperSport United FC, as it means that the club will be without one of its most successful coaches for the foreseeable future.
What Comes Next?
The qualifiers for the 2027 Afcon in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, also known as Pamoja, start late next month with a tricky home tie against Guinea. It is going to be a busy year-end for Bafana because after hosting Guinea, they travel to Eritrea a few days later and have back-to-back matches against Benni McCarthy's Kenya in November.
Mosimane tried and failed to qualify for Afcon in 2012. It was an embarrassing episode in which Bafana missed out on qualification for the tournament that was co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon because the national team misunderstood the rules of the competition.
After drawing 0-0 with Sierra Leone at Mbombela Stadium, Mosimane's Bafana staged a synchronised dance in celebration, believing they had done enough to go through on goal difference. But they had miscalculated, because in that tournament it is performance against one another that decides who goes through, not goal differences.
Hence, Niger advanced and Mosimane was fired. But that was not to be the end of Mosimane's coaching career. He returned to club football and took on the demanding job of head coach at Mamelodi Sundowns, where he won several trophies before moving to SuperSport United FC.
Mosimane's return to Bafana is a significant development for SuperSport United FC, as it means that the club will be without one of its most successful coaches for the foreseeable future. The club will have to find a replacement for Mosimane, who has been a key figure in the team's success over the years.
The qualifiers for the 2027 Afcon in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, also known as Pamoja, start late next month with a tricky home tie against Guinea. It is going to be a busy year-end for Bafana because after hosting Guinea, they travel to Eritrea a few days later and have back-to-back matches against Benni McCarthy's Kenya in November.
