Pitso Mosimane has discussed some of the player development issues of South African football, saying Relebohile Mofokeng is like Real Madrid’s Rodrygo in size and perhaps skills but there are many other factors why SA doesn’t have a player at a top club in Europe.
The South African tactician is currently without a club after leaving Esteghlal FC due to unpaid wages. While he is back in Mzansi, Mosimane is focussing on his Pitso Mosimane Youth Football project, where he is trying to tackle some of the issues in player development and prepare future Bafana Bafana players.
During a conversation with the host on the Dan Corder Show, Mosimane explained some of the problems in South African football and why our players don’t reach the potential of players like Rodrygo and Vinicius Jr. despite being extremely gifted as well.
“I’ve been around. And I also know why I did not make the biggest success in in Europe,” ‘Jingles’ said.
“And I also know why we don’t have a Manchester United, a Man City, a Real Madrid player [from South Africa], a Barcelona… And I’ve also been a coach, as I said, in Bafana, where we played everybody – we played Spain, Germany, Brazil, Italy, we played all those teams to prepare for the World Cup.
“And I’ve also been the coach of Bafana, and I’ve now been outside, I’ve played against the best teams in the continent like Al Ahly, Esperance, Wydad, those are the best team in the continent. Nobody can say anything.
“If you have to check which team has won the Champions League more than other teams in the continent. I mean, 70% or 85% of those trophies are won by the North Africans. And we can say they don’t have the flair that we have, but then put the flair and win it. Do you know what I’m trying to say?
“And I’ve been playing against Sadio Mane, [Cristiano] Ronaldo, Riyad Mahrez, just mention all these big names that we all know. I’ve played against them on the pitch, [N’Golo] Kante and all that, and then I see, what’s the real challenge we have in South Africa, why we don’t have players in those spaces, and how do we do that?
“So, everybody talks about football development, but we don’t really talk about how to do that. So how to do is the program, is what you say – positioning, manipulating the ball – we need that because that’s what makes Neymar and Vinicius Jr, who they are, Rodrygo, etc.
“We need about the physical side, people think it’s only the strength. It’s not only that, speed is also part of physical side of the game.
“And we need also things that we don’t even think about them, which is the nutrition. And we also need to know how to condition the player, how to train him to be able to play in those spaces.
“And it’s not all about the size, because if you look at yesterday’s match, there were one guy small like this, playing in the Premier League, the Senegalese, I forgot the name… Top player. He’s not as big as we suppose…
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“Rodrygo is this the same as Mofokeng of Orlando Pirates. So, it’s not all about the size, it’s a package.
“And also, not forgetting the mentality and the social lifestyles and social life skills – the attitude to win, the attitude to persevere. Can you do it when it’s difficult, on difficult conditions? How do you want to win? How much more do you want it? How you train. Do you really want like it, or you want it?
“You know, for you to be where you are at this moment, how hard you worked, how you prepared, and you need to do things different, so we don’t have that culture in the country.”
