Mosimane unfazed by PSL decision
POSTPONEMENT OF GAMES DENIED
PITSO Mosimane has realised that there’s no use fighting the PSL for rejecting to postpone their opening Absa Premiership match against Maritzburg United to have sufficient time to prepare for their CAF Champions League first leg semifinal against Zesco United.
The Mamelodi Sundowns coach has instead encouraged his players to “win against all odds” on all fronts. Sundowns will play Maritzburg at Harry Gwala Stadium on Wednesday, three days after taking on Chippa United in an MTN8 first leg semifinal in Port Elizabeth on Sunday, and then they will travel to Ndola to face Zesco on Saturday. Despite the PSL not bending over backwards to help Sundowns in their pursuit of African glory, Mosimane has changed his tune after launching a scathing attack on the league last week and is now just focused on the games that lie ahead. “You have to go on with the way the programme is and that’s what I told the guys. I told them we need to prepare differently and we need to be mentally strong and know that we are going to be living at the airport now.” In 2013, the PSL postponed quite a number of Pirates’ league matches while they were competing in the Champions League. By the time they reached the first leg final against Al Ahly on November 2, the Buccaneers had only played three league matches compared to the eight most clubs had played.
Their match against Mpumalanga Black Aces, which was meant to be played on November 6, was postponed because it was scheduled four days before the second leg of the final. Most of Pirates’ matches were postponed because they had to connect flights whenever they travelled to North Africa.
“I don’t want to talk about who is being treated this way or that way. The last thing we want is to come and say, ‘we could not make it because the programme was like this and that’. I want them to say they have made it against all odds,” said Mosimane.
“We have enough manpower for the league and MTN8, but we do not have personnel for Champions League. You must remember we lost eight players in the Champions League. I will rely on the guys we have.”
PSL acting CEO Mato Madlala said: “What I have been told by our football department is that they engaged Sundowns [about the fixtures] and that they had an agreement. That’s all I can say.”
Mosimane, meanwhile, praised Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba for managing the five Sundowns players that were called up for the Mauritania and Egypt matches well. Only left-back Tebogo Langerman played 90 minutes in both matches.