“He has the pedigree for players to respect. ‘Who are you talking to? I have done it at Bafana.’ I like that,” said Pitso Mosimane about Benni McCarthy. Photo: Bertram Malgas/BackpagePix “He has the pedigree for players to respect. ‘Who are you talking to? I have done it at Bafana.’ I like that,” said Pitso Mosimane about Benni McCarthy. Photo: Bertram Malgas/BackpagePix
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane ruled himself out in the search for the next Bafana Bafana coach.
But he did give the South African Football Association’s (Safa) technical committee three names of men he feel can do the job.
Safa’s technical committee met on Saturday, a day after Stuart Baxter resigned, to table the way forward.
Part of the way forward was naming Molefi Ntseki as the interim coach, while they look for Baxter’s replacement with the intention of filling the vacancy by the end of the month.
Mosimane said he isn’t interesting in returning to coaching Bafana, arguing that Sundowns have given him an opportunity to do what he couldn’t do with the national team – lead a South African side in the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) and the World Cup.
There is no monetary settlement. This had nothing to do about money. The figures quoted about my salary have been embarrassingly way off the mark - Baxter pic.twitter.com/egq00HZdPc
— Bafana Bafana (@BafanaBafana) August 2, 2019
The Caf Champions League, which he won in 2016, has been his Afcon and the Fifa Club World Cup was his World Cup.
“I am doing Africa here. I am happy to be here,” Mosimane said.
“I have a contract that I have to honour. I have never broken any contract. The only contract that I didn’t finish was at SuperSport United, because SuperSport said that coach you’ve got to be a part of the World Cup.
“I got an unbelievable experience when I was working with Bafana. It has helped me to be where I am. I must be thankful to Safa for that.
“I had time to educate myself because there wasn’t games every week. Somebody must learn from that.”
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/Sundowns?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Sundowns pic.twitter.com/wGEOTxTQbA
— Mamelodi Sundowns FC (@Masandawana)
Mosimane continued to campaign for Benni McCarthy and Gavin Hunt to be given a chance.
Hunt was Mosimane’s preferred choice when Safa were looking for Ephraim ‘Shakes’ Mashaba’s replacement, before they settled on Baxter after they couldn’t get their top three candidates.
“Benni, Steve (Komphela) and Gavin Hunt (are the local choices),” Mosimane said. “Gavin has been asking for a chance, and I think that we should also give him a chance.
“We were there and couldn’t do what the country needed. Let us give Gavin a chance.
“Benni has a good name. He is like (Senegal coach, Aliou) Cisse and like the coach of Algeria (Djamel Belmadi). He played football in Europe and has a big name in the country. We should probably follow that route.
“But does he want it? (Cape Town City boss, John) Comitis said he will release him if he wants to. But if you appoint Benni, put the right people around him.
“He has the pedigree for players to respect. ‘Who are you talking to? I have done it at Bafana.’ I like that.
“But support him with the right people and be patient with him.”
Even though Mosimane said he isn’t interested in the Bafana job, he promised to help if his services are needed in the search or in any capacity – except to coach.
“We must help. There are 18 months to go before the World Cup. We must have a team for the World Cup. We must qualify.
“We have done well in terms of the results at Afcon. If we can come out like we did at the Afcon, than we can be one of the five teams in Africa.
“We have potential. It’s a difficult job. Everyone has their own challenges.
“Maybe we should go on a flight if we don’t find the right man locally? Or maybe we should follow what Segenal and Algeria did?
“They stayed with their own coaches and were patient.”