We survived against all odds, says Pitso

COACH Pitso Mosimane has launched a blistering tirade on the South African media and critical fans in the aftermath of Bafana Bafana’s troublesome recent camp.

Mosimane seemed frustrated after concluding a two-week camp with a vastly weakened side that returned, unexpectedly, worthy draws against Ghana, Zambia and Equatorial Guinea over the past fortnight.

Following Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Ghana in Phokeng, Mosimane let rip, telling journalists “you’re killing this team”, and backing himself as “one of the best coaches in the country”.

“You wrote my obituary,” Mosimane said, without provocation. “We have survived against top teams. Who was missing in the Ghana side? Who was missing in the Zambia side? They brought their full teams here and we survived against all odds. In spite of all the criticism … People saying Pitso is useless, he doesn’t know what he’s doing, we still managed to write our own history.”

Except that the results against Ghana and Zambia will not be recorded into any history book. Mosimane supported the idea of downgrading the games, with the SA Football Association fearing humiliation for the national side which could have affected the country’s Fifa ranking, but on Sunday he had forgotten about all that.

“In our country, we are fighting among ourselves. We plot to take this team down the rails. I understand the mentality of everyone and every club. I’m South African … I live here. I understood why clubs pulled out players from the squad. We were without 12 senior players, but I’m here to work. Everybody wrote us off, saying we are scared (of Ghana and Zambia), but here we are today.”

Mosimane vowed to survive the pressure of coaching Bafana in spite of calls for him to be removed from the post following the disastrous failure to qualify for the African Nations Cup, which kicks off this weekend.

“If the FA (Safa) want me to continue as coach, I will do so. Only they can say I’m not good enough. But I know all the coaches in the country, and there aren’t too many. I’m one of the best.”

He added that his biggest test would be next year’s Nations Cup finals, to be hosted in South Africa.

Reflecting on the camp, Mosimane was pleased with the showing of several players, including Ayanda Gcaba, the Free State Stars left-back who scored in the match against Zambia. Thamsanqa Sangweni also had a solid game on Sunday, capping a memorable afternoon with a wonder-goal against Ghana.

“The pool has become bigger now. I was with these guys from January 2-15. Their performance shows that when you have time with the team, you can do something. We got what we wanted from this camp, even though we were pushed against the wall. For these players it was not about caps. They said they wanted to be here, rather than being at home, driving around and doing nothing. We have a long year ahead and we are still going to get problems.”

Bafana’s next engagement is an international friendly against Senegal on February 29.