Pitso in Hunt’s corner
SUNDOWNS COACH AT RISK OF ALIENATING BAFANA’S BAXTER It might have been better had he not voiced his opinion.
Mamelodi Sundowns and one-time Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane has declared, following the recent appointment of Stuart Baxter as the national coach, that Bidvest Wits University’s Gavin Hunt should have got the job instead.
Now Mosimane, who is not inclined to remain silent in expressing his views, is quite entitled to prefer Hunt.
But as the mentor of the current Caf Champions League holders admitted that because of his position at the helm of one of, if not the most talented squads, in the PSL, he is in a special position to assist Baxter in evaluating players in one form or another.
So whatever Mosimane believes, it was untimely at this delicate juncture, with so many problems associated with the Bafana position, for the Sundowns’ coach to express his negative view on Baxter’s appointment.
Mosimane has made it clear he will help Baxter where he can because he is “a South African” – and as such wants to see Bafana succeed in what looms a period of extreme importance in which World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers will be staged.
But it would not be surprising if Mosimane’s preference for Hunt does not remain imprinted on Baxter in his relationship with the Sundowns coach and prompts the sentiment that with friends like that, does he really need enemies?
Meanwhile, the first crucial test of Baxter’s second stint as Bafana coach against Nigeria in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier early in June looms urgently closer and larger by the day like a cascading snow blizzard threatening danger.
And in this ominous and uncertain atmosphere, Mosimane, in his singularly influential position, should have remained as quiet as a church mouse on his preference of Hunt for the Bafana post.