Benni: Pitso Mosimane is the ‘crème de la crème’ of coaches

Along with Benni McCarthy – who is making a name for himself as a coach at Manchester United – Pitso Mosimane is another South African coach with a remarkable CV and an increasing profile overseas.

McCarthy, in an exclusive interview with iDiski Times, said it was very meaningful to see the impact South African coaches were having around the world.

“I’m excited. I think South Africa has good prospects and the fact that we also have now lots of ex-players who are coaching and coaching at good levels,” McCarthy told iDiski Times.

“Where you see the likes of Bradley Carnell, who has done amazing in the MLS, finished top of the region and unfortunately in the playoffs, he didn’t have that success, but he is doing well, and he is coaching international players. Then you’ve got Quinton Fortune, who’s also an assistant coach. He was in Mexico, his last stint. So Quinton is also out there, doing his thing.

“And then there’s myself who was also a head coach and now I’m a first-team coach at one of the best clubs or one of the biggest clubs in the world. So all the experience that we’re gaining, it’s invaluable. It’s valuable.

“So South Africa, we can only benefit from having coaches coaching there. Obviously, Pitso [Mosimane] is leading the way, but Pitso is established, and he’s probably the creme de la creme.”

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Pitso Mosimane has taken up his next challenge

After spending a period on the open job market, Pitso Mosimane opted to sign a short-term contract with the Saudi Pro League side, the Abha Club.

It was an interesting decision considering that Mosimane went from coaching teams that were contending for titles, to working with a club that is fighting to escape relegation.

However, he has explained what attracted him to this latest project.

“Abha is one of the league’s ‘small’ teams. But there’s ambition, there’s a bit of experience. We need to try to do things a little differently,” Mosimane told The National.

“If we can save them from relegation, there’s an opportunity to then make them much, much better. It’s an adventure, and I like adventures.

“For me it’s about the challenge and, I guess, I’m trying to finish a story. If I personalise it, I won promotion to this league with Al Ahli, so I should be in the Pro League,” he added. “Of course the conditions are different. It’s now the biggest league in the Gulf, maybe in Asia.”

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Yet it should be noted that this is only a short-term deal with Abha, and although there is of course a strong possibility that the veteran coach could stay on, there is no clarity around this just yet.

Perhaps it could leave the door open for Chiefs to prepare an official offer to Mosimane to take up a permanent project at Naturena after his stint with the Abha club.

“The Chiefs management was happy to hear that Pitso (Mosimane) has signed a short-term deal with that club from Saudi Arabia,” a source recently told The Citizen. “Kaizer (Motaung) senior ias a fan of Pitso and when he said some time ago that only two local coaches could coach Chiefs, one of those coaches he was talking about was Pitso.”