Pitso Mosimane has responded to claims he should get sacked after missing out on the Egyptian Premier League title and opened up on the pressure he feels from Al Ahly president Mahmoud El Khatib.
The South African tactician and Al Ahly missed out on defending the Egyptian Premier League title after dropping to four points behind bitter rivals Zamalek over the last few games.
There were calls from some fans and legends for Mosimane to be sacked despite lifting four trophies – two CAF Champions League titles, the CAF Super Cup and the Egyptian Cup (note: the previous league had already been secured before Mosimane joined) and a bronze medal at the FIFA Club World Cup.
However, Al Ahly president Khatib had already backed his coach following the last game and Mosimane has now explained that Bebo also played football and understands that losses are part of the game.
“Well, he played football, he is a legend in Egypt. A big player. Oh, he is, that guy is a legend,” he said,” he said on Sports Night Live.
“Everybody knows. Everybody loves him in Egypt, and I think he played in games where he lost the games also, you know what I’m trying to say.
“So probably he can look back also and say, ‘did I also lose a game?’ So he is a very understanding person and he took it well – no, we took it bad but we took well. Bad because we don’t want to lose the league.
“We don’t know anything else, I’ve never felt like this in Egypt because everything I played for I’ve won it. So this was the last one and it was a kind of a different feeling.
“And we took it bad but we moved on and said, look, sometimes you can have everything and we know what happened.
“I don’t want to go to other stuff that I think also really created a problem for us to lose the game but it’s part of the game but you focus on the positives. The positives is: How did you lose the game? What What happened? How do we minimize the mistakes we did? How do we maximize on the good things we did? And that’s how you move on in life because who is perfect in life?”
Mosimane was also asked directly whether there would be a chance that he was going to be dismissed.
“Well, if you fire Pitso, because he’s lost four games in 52 games, so be it,” he added.
“I feel that of loss. I hate losing, you know me. Everybody knows South Africa, when I lose, just look at my post interviews I’m just a different person.
“Because who likes to lose? I’m not that kind of a coach who is modest after a loss. You know, I will go back to the drawing board. I don’t talk that, I don’t like that.
“I’m angry. And I go home and I immediately look at the game. What happened one that night, the players will get a text, this is what happened because I can’t take a loss. Loss is not in my space.”
