VIDEO: Couple of Chiefs stars among best players Pitso’s coached

Pitso Mosimane recently spoke to the On The Whistle podcast, sharing his views on “waking up the sleeping giant of Saudi Arabian football” while discussing what life is like in Jeddah.

He talks about how Kolo Toure and Benni McCarthy are slowly opening doors for coaches in Europe, gives insight into his friendship with Morocco’s Walid Regragui and talks about the impact of Cristiano Ronaldo’s move to Saudi club Al-Nassr.

In a wide-ranging interview, he also responded to the tricky task of picking the best player he has coached during an illustrious career, which interestingly included a couple of players now plying their trade with Kaizer Chiefs.

“It’s a difficult one, because I coached national team – I’ve coached Benni McCarthy, I’ve coached Steven Pienaar,” he said. “It’s difficult to say that and there’s top players in South Africa like Katlego Mphela, one of the top strikers. he played in France also, in Bordeaux.

“At Mamelodi Sundowns, my captain Hlompho Kekana was top a top player. Also Themba Zwane, one of the evergreen top players. Keagan Dolly, Khama Billiat… We can just go on, I can’t say. There are so many I can’t mention. You can’t say one player was better than the others.”

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Show Notes (Duration: 37:00)

• 03:30 – Comparing PSL and Egyptian Premier League players to those in the Saudi Arabian leagues
• 07:30 – Waking up the “sleeping giant” that is Al-Ahli Saudi Football Club
• 10:30 – Parallels with the early days of working with relegation-threatened Sundowns
• 14:45 – Ronaldo relocating to Saudi sparked global interest of football in the region
• 18:30 – Celebrating his “buddy” Walid Regragui’s success with Morocco
• 21:00 – Kolo Toure and Benni McCarthy are slowly opening doors for coaches in Europe
• 26:30 – Size vs speed vs technical ability 32:30 – South African “wingers and fullbacks” would do well in Saudi
• 34:45 – Best player Pitso’s coached…

You can watch the interview with Pitso Mosimane below:

Last week, Pitso Mosimane offered a humble apology after suffering an agonising first defeat since joining Al-Ahli Saudi FC.

Since the veteran coach has taken over at the Saudi club, he has enjoyed a dream start to his tenure, leading Al-Ahli through 13 unbeaten games, which even took them to the top of the log.

However, last week, Mosimane’s side not only lost 4-1 to Al Akhdood, but saw the winners leapfrog them into pole position on the standings.

Although Al-Ahli in fact scored the first goal, they then conceded four themselves as proceedings quickly went awry.

Taking to social media after the game, Pitso admitted it simply wasn’t good enough. The result saw Al Ahli drop into third spot based on goal difference, but they will soon have a chance to turn their fortunes around as they will face Al Kholood on Tuesday.

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