The sky’s the limit
PITSO: COACH SAYS THERE WILL BE NO SPENDING SPREE
Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Pitso Mosimane is thrown skyhigh after the Absa Premiership match against relegation-threatened Ajax Cape Town at Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville, Pretoria, on Saturday. The Brazilians won the match 3-1 and are the Premier Soccer League champions again.
He’s pleased that Pirates will join them in Champions League.
“The league has never been under threat.” Those are the words uttered by Pitso Mosimane after winning his third Absa Premiership title with his Mamelodi Sundowns side on Saturday.
A 3-1 win over beleaguered Ajax Cape Town saw Masandawana winning a record-extending eighth title in the Premier Soccer League era. Sundowns beat Orlando Pirates to the title with a game to spare.
“We have been there all the time, they (Pirates) tried and I am happy they are going to play in the Caf Champions League. That’s where I want Pirates,” said Mosimane.
“We were ordained to win the league. I know there are other teams that are not under pressure to win the league but we said we wanted it. If you want it and you behave like you want it, you will likely get it. We are the only ones who have been saying we want to win the league and we got what we wanted,” the ex-Bafana Bafana coach added.
Mosimane says he is not going to fall into the trap of going on a huge shopping spree for players to strengthen his squad for next season’s title defence. Although key players like Khama Billiat and Percy Tau look likely to be on their way out of the club at the end of the season – Billiat is out of contract while Tau is earmarked for a move to Europe – Mosimane insists he will maintain what he has in his locker room, with only a few additions.
“We are not going to go on a shopping spree just because we won the league because that backfires sometimes. I don’t want to mention clubs’ names but after they won the league they said the present guys were not good enough.
“I need to be careful and I must be loyal to the boys who do it week in week out with me, especially when they deliver,” he said.
“Sundowns are no longer doing the thing of signing 15 players. It is either two or three all the time. We know which players we want and where we need to reinforce,” Mosimane added.