EDITORIAL | Pitso Mosimane’s detractors are wrong ― this time it’s different

One of Pitso Mosimane’s favourite phrases is that “you must leave the jersey in a better place than where you found it”.

Now that Mosimane has been unveiled as the Bafana Bafana coach after drawn-out negotiations between his representatives and the South African Football Association (Safa), football followers widely expect the highly decorated coach to use the foundation laid by his Belgian predecessor Hugo Broos as a springboard to future success with the senior men’s national team.

He inherits a healthy squad, in both performance and age, compared to when he had the first bite of the cherry as Bafana boss in a two-year stint between 2010 and 2012, having served as assistant to World Cup-winning Brazilian mentor Carlos Alberto Parreira.

Then, Mosimane was inexperienced and it showed. His only claim to coaching fame was a period with the now-defunct SuperSport United, the club that gave him a chance to cut his coaching teeth. His work showed promise as he cultivated a football style that converted United from filling up the numbers to mounting a serious challenge for the Premier Soccer League (PSL) title where he twice finished runner-up.

He was not ready for the demands of the high-pressure job and was inadequately equipped to handle the scrutiny the demanding supporters visit on the incumbent.

With Safa finally confirming what has been a badly kept secret on Tuesday, the official announcement of Mosimane’s appointment has not shut up the detractors who deem him a past failure in the position.

The argument of the critics overlooks the road Mosimane has travelled since Safa terminated his services 14 years ago while he was at camp in Rustenburg. While gutted by the dismissal, he refused to wallow in misery or self-pity. Forever a student of the game, he continued to upskill himself with high-level coaching education and obtained international coaching badges, all the while moulding Mamelodi Sundowns into a mean machine with a ravenous appetite for glory, which he suitably satiated with multiple silverware during a dazzling dominance of the domestic scene.

There is a burden of expectation that Bafana’s trajectory must continue its steady climb and Mosimane must summon his wealth of experience at club level and transfer it to country duty.

Now a coach who has contested four Confederation of African Football Champions League seasons (winning one with Sundowns and two with Africa’s Club of the Century Al Ahly of Egypt), Mosimane has earned his stripes which even his doubters cannot dismiss willy nilly.

The Bafana he returns to have found their way back into the hearts of South Africans after achieving a historic progression to the knockout stages of the Fifa World Cup in North America.

There is a burden of expectation that Bafana’s trajectory must continue its steady climb and Mosimane must summon his wealth of experience at club level and transfer it to country duty.

There’s no time for Mosimane and his technical team of Musi Matlaba and Kabelo Rangoaga to rest on their laurels, as in two weeks Bafana begin the qualifiers for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon).

A victory at home in the opening group D match against Guinea will start the comeback trail on a positive note and set the tone many hope will culminate in Bafana earning their second continental title since their sole 1996 success.

It is a crown he craves, a missing piece of his impressive puzzle. Qualifying for the 2030 World Cup is a thirst he must quench.

Football fans in every nook and cranny of the republic will not accept anything less. It will assist him that he is no stranger to pressure and constant criticism, which was a staple diet served by millions of hard-to-please ultra supporters of Ahly.

There is no room for error in Mosimane’s Bafana second coming.