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Anyone who expects league-winning coach Pitso Mosimane to be over the moon is totally off the mark.
Despite leading Mamelodi Sundowns to their second league title in three seasons, Mosimane is hurting and believes he has underachieved. He feels like a loser after failing to reach his target in the CAF Champions League. He says he won’t rest until he achieves continental glory.
The Brazilians came short in the last hurdle when they lost to AS Vita of the DRC and dropped to the less fancied CAF Confederation Cup. They were due to play Medeama SC of Ghana last night for a place in the group stages of the tournament.
Mosimane said they would give it their best shot so as to gain experience for next year’s Champions League. The man nicknamed “Jingles” does not see the Confed Cup as a consolation, but as a stepping stone.
“What have we won in Africa?” asked Mosimane. “I asked each and every player if they had any African medal and none of them has, so I told them to take it seriously. I want the players to get committed and it is not about winning it but gaining experience. Let’s play these big clubs and see how far we can go.”
He said they would have no excuses for not doing well in next year’s Champions League. “The players are now growing and getting the mentality of playing on the continent. Travelling is no longer an issue when playing away from home but poor officiating. For this, I must praise Pirates for going all the way to two finals.”
Mosimane said his aim was to reach the group stages of the big fish – the Champions League. “It’s the mentality and not about how good you are. We are laying the foundation for next year and I promise we will come back much stronger. We are still hurt about what happened to us. Who am I in Africa. I am nobody because I have not achieved anything. Tinkler is better than me because he went to the final.”
Mosimane ran short of saying that Downs had no competition this season.
“We always compete with ourselves,” said Mosimane. “Sundowns is not just a team, we are a big team. When you are at Sundowns, you are expected to win the league, that is the pressure because, if you don’t, you are regarded as a failure.
“But we can’t say there were no people giving us a run for our money. At one stage we were eight points behind Wits and we managed to topple them. Wits don’t lose too many games. You win, they win and it was tough.”
He said he knew he had the chance of winning the title when he saw the gap between Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates.
“Stuart [Baxter] kept me on my toes previously and he was not there this season. Whether we like or not, we compete with Chiefs and Pirates. These are the top sides and if you don’t see them behind you, you know you can relax a bit.”
Mosimane said playing consistently and having different goal scorers was key to success this season.
“We scored more goals and never relied on one player. Everyone came to the party. Even Surprise has a goal. At one stage, we went about 18 games without a loss and that really worked for us.”
He also gave credit to the players for raising their game. “I must give credit to the likes of Wayne Arendse, who previously was only limited to few games. He came to the party this season. Keagan and Hlompho were also in the thick of things. Overall, it was a team effort.”
Last year Mosimane lost out on the title to Chiefs, but vowed to wrestle the title back. He did with two games to spare. But he it is not over yet as he now wants to break the club’s record of 65 points and break the 70-points barrier.
“We want that record and we are going for it.”
Downs play second-placed Wits on Wednesday.
Mosimane has already started plotting for next season as he revealed that he would reinforce the side and release few players. After all, he knows it is tougher to stay at the top than to reach the top.
