Pitso Mosimane is back in charge of Bafana Bafana. The 62-year-old was presented to the media in Johannesburg on Tuesday, more than three weeks after the South African Football Association's executive committee had actually signed off on the decision.
The delay was contractual. Terms had to be finalised, and Mosimane wanted his technical staff settled before anything was announced. Safa have not said how long the deal runs.
Following Broos is not straightforward
Hugo Broos left at the end of July when his contract expired, after five years in the job. The Belgian took South Africa to third place at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations and then to the last 32 of this summer's World Cup - the country's first appearance at the finals since they hosted in 2010.
That is a decent standard to inherit. Bafana Bafana are no longer a side that turns up hoping to compete.
The first spell ended badly, and everyone remembers why
Mosimane ran the national team from July 2010 to June 2012. It is remembered for one afternoon.
South Africa went into their final 2012 Afcon qualifier against Sierra Leone believing a draw would take them through. It would not. They drew, celebrated on the pitch, and then discovered they had gone out on the head-to-head rule. The images of players dancing while eliminated followed Mosimane for years.
He left the job the following June, after a 1-1 home draw with Ethiopia in the opening qualifier for the 2014 World Cup.
What he has done since
A great deal, and most of it abroad or at club level.
Mosimane won the African Champions League three times - once with Mamelodi Sundowns, twice with Al Ahly - which makes him one of the most decorated coaches the continent has produced. He then took jobs in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Iran, the most recent of them at Esteghlal.
So Safa are not hiring the 2012 version. They are hiring a coach who has since won on the biggest club stage in Africa and spent a decade managing under pressure in leagues where results are the only currency.
Whether that translates to international football, where you get your players for a week at a time and cannot sign anyone, is the question the next qualifying campaign will answer.
0 Comments