The 55-year-old coach has enjoyed a trophy-laden eight-year tenure at the helm of the Brazilians
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane doesn’t regard the club’s achievements since 2012 as personal glory, saying he is not in football to focus on himself.
Now in his eighth season as Downs coach, Mosimane has enjoyed success which saw him writing some pieces of history for himself.
The biggest achievement is arguably guiding Sundowns to a first-ever Caf Champions League crown, while he also became the first Premier Soccer League (PSL) coach to win four league titles with the same club.
Other accomplishments include winning the Caf Super Cup, the 2015 Nedbank Cup and two Telkom Knockout trophies.
“I always appreciate the support and history being made when my name is attached,” Mosimane told Sundowns’ official website.
“But we are not in this game to focus on yourself, I don’t look too personalise these things, the results are for the club not just for me. I prefer breaking records for the club.”
Mosimane also claimed the 2016 African Coach of the Year award and is a four-time PSL Coach of the Season.
With second-placed Sundowns currently four points behind log leaders Kaizer Chiefs with a game in hand, Mosimane could add a fifth PSL crown to his CV if the season resumes, and it would be Downs’ third successive PSL trophy.
The current PSL campaign was supposed to end last weekend had it not been suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Mosimane has revisited last term’s close contest which they won on the last day of the campaign by beating Orlando Pirates to the title.
“I set my team up to get the win. We knew that our destiny was in our hands. Pirates were playing Polokwane City at home and we were on the road against Free State Stars,” said Mosimane.
“What helped us was that Stars were chasing the game as well, they needed the win to avoid relegation. I needed to keep the boys focused – we couldn’t be hungry and just chase the win, because we would get punished.”
Mosimane remembers how he was forced to readjust his plans after losing key man Gaston Sirino in the first half due to injury.
“Gaston was making some dangerous runs, he was creating problems for the Stars backline. He is a guy that can turn the game around. We needed to accept that football is an unpredictable game,” Mosimane added.
“Once Gaston goes down, I discussed our options with my technical team and I felt Phaka was our best option. We threw Phaka [Phakamani Mahlambi] on and we needed to trust and believe in him. Obviously, he scored and repaid the belief we had in him.”
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