Story by Lorenz Köhler in Abu Dhabi for the FIFA Club World Cup:
Al Ahly head coach Pitso Mosimane has played down his achievement despite being on the cusp of history for African football at the FIFA Club World Cup.
Mosimane, a trailblazer for South African football, a historical figure in many senses and the global superstar from the nation in the absence of the world-class players of yesteryear for a football-loving nation.
He continues to set the standard, break barriers and simply demand headlines every time he speaks – he knows he’s creating history on the continent and perhaps in the world, but he’s not ready to lap up in the glory, yet.
As the first black and first non-African coach to manage the record ten-time African champions, he’s become the first in their history to lead the club to back-to-back FIFA Club World Cup semi-finals.
Something the iconic Manuel Jose, a four-time winner of the African Champions League didn’t achieve, but as he pays his respects and received plaudits he contextualised that he’s still in the beginning stage of his chapter at the biggest institution on the continent and the Middle-East.
“Lorenz, you are also humbling me on what you just said, because Al Ahly is such a huge, big, big team when I came over here,” he said in the pre-match press conference on Monday evening.
“Yes, of course, I came with my reputation also – but to be a coach of Al Ahly… last season they received an award for being the best team in the Middle-East, that’s really humbling for me to be the coach of this team.
“There were other big European coaches here, you know all the names that were here, I watched them on TV while I was in South Africa – I never ever thought I’d be in the space that they are and other coaches from South America.
“The coach of [Monterrey] was the coach of the [Egypt] national team, so it’s humbling was me as a person to be in this space, there were big coaches in Al Ahly like the famous Manuel Jose, everyone knows about him.”
Mosimane stressed that ‘nobody’ can replace his legacy or rather ‘fit in his shoes’ despite him now achieving something Jose didn’t – and feels judgement should only be passed if he’s afforded the same time at the helm.
“Okay, Alhamdulillah we made back to back [semi-finals] in the Club World Cup – he didn’t do it but we managed to do that, But he’s achieved so much,” Mosimane added.
“If I look at his trophy cabinet and I look at mine – I have a long way to go, I’ve only been here 15 months and he was seven years here and he won four Champions Leagues.
“Okay, I’ve got three, maybe in two years time, I’ll get another one or this year. You never know, only God directs us but he’s a big coach, I always speak about him and admire him.
“I think it’s only fair to judge me after seven years because he spent seven years here and judge me in seven years. But you know football, seven years is not easy to be a coach of a team as big as Al Ahly.
“I’m just small and moving up slowly and I must be humble with what I have for now and not compare myself to the big European coaches but what’s important is on the pitch. The results speak, nothing else.”
His stand-in captain in the absence of Mohamed El-Shenaway and Ayman Ashraf who were en-route the United Arab Emirates from Cameroon at the time of the press conference opened up on what Mosimane has done to lift the morale of the squad – as more than eight first-team players were missing against Monterrey in their first game
“There are things we can do and things we can prepare beforehand, studying the opponent together, as I said we played them last year – there are things that changed, there are new players and some that lift us,” he said.
“We go step by step, we rely on the effort of everybody, there’s no difference between those who are playing on the pitch and those who play on the bench. Therefore the players who come in – get into the system.
“Those who don’t play, are all in one team and this makes us focused in all matches and this will help us progress to the final, God willing.”
The Red Devils face the Copa Libertadores champions this evening at the Al Nahyan Stadium at 18h30 (GMT+2).
