Maybe there’s something in the water when managers lose games... and the plot
I AM not a fizzy drinks guy. No, sir. I avoid them like the plague... especially Coke, because I am convinced there’s more than just Coke in there. It’s addictive.
Hold on, I am going somewhere with this. As I was saying, water is your best bet for a clean bill of health. Ask your doctor.
But lately I can’t help but be nervous each time I take a sip. After rants from two football coaches at the weekend – one in the elite league and another seemingly desperate for attention in the amateur ranks – maybe there’s something in the water.
My biggest concern is Pitso Mosimane’s latest outburst about needing protection from the Premier Soccer League (PSL) as he’s being “targeted”. By whom? For what? “There’s a plot against me,” the Mamelodi Sundowns coach said on Saturday afternoon after yet another poor result for the African Champions. The Brazilians were knocked out of the last 16 of the Nedbank Cup by Golden Arrows in their own backyard and Mosimane was caught on camera in what appeared to be a scuffle between him and the opposition bench, most notably general manager Gordon Masondo. This melee would have blown over if Mosimane hadn’t made such wild accusations, claiming there was clearly no love lost between him and South African football. The situation was made worse by the fact that a week earlier, the coach had been involved in another altercation with a Kaizer Chiefs security employee minutes after a 2-1 defeat at FNB Stadium.
These things happen in football – you have sore losers and those that are gracious in defeat. But Mosimane needs to find a balance. It is particularly important that he, of all the coaches in the PSL currently, does so to avoid overshadowing his achievements over the past year or so. It’s bad enough that Sundowns are struggling to win a game, his confrontations can easily bring on a strong dose of amnesia among soccer fans. When you are being hauled to disciplinary hearings and your opponents cringe every time you are in front of TV cameras and microphones, who remembers that you are the reigning league champions, CAF Champions League title-holders and recent Super Cup winners? Very few.
Mosimane has earned the respect of his colleagues thanks to his incredible feats both on the continent and in his native country, but his sore-loser complex isn’t at all healthy. But at least he has a glowing CV and will probably never go without a job, unlike his ABC Motsepe League counterpart MacDonald “Bambino” Makhubedu, who behaved like a child in several of his post-match interviews after his Acornbush United ran Chiefs close in their Nedbank Cup tie on Sunday afternoon.
While Makhubedu’s comments were rather refreshing given the passé responses from top-flight coaches, they were also misguided. To claim that Chiefs, one of the biggest teams in the country and Africa, are mediocre and responsible for the senior men’s national team being so average for many moons now, was erroneous. You would have thought “Bambino” had lofty ambitions of one day managing a PSL side, but who would want to be associated with a coach who seems more concerned about how the opposition play than giving credit where it’s due – to his own players for making Chiefs sweat for a win against an amateur outfit?
I am tempted to backslide into the flavour of fizzy drinks rather than the toxic water Mosimane and Makhubedu have been consuming over the past several weeks.