Whereas football coaches use the morning after the fateful night before to inspect the wreckage, Pitso Mosimane did not have that luxury on Thursday.
Instead of reviewing what went wrong in his side's maiden Castle Premiership loss to Kaizer Chiefs since 1999, the SuperSport United coach was contemplating what to do in the next few weeks.
Faced with three matches within a period of a week, Mosimane went to bed after the 1-0 defeat by Amakhosi weighing the three games' importance.
"I don't care if I lose the Dolphin or Silver Stars match," Mosimane said, without flinching. "My priority is the Absa Cup final against Wits (University) and I can't risk having any of my players unavailable for that clash because of injuries from either the Dolphin game or the Silver Stars match."
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| 'I don't care if I lose the Dolphin or Silver Stars match' |
Dolphin are the Nigerian side that SuperSport play at Loftus on Saturday night (8pm) in the Confederation Cup fourth round, second leg clash.
It was because of his desire to add the title of the country's premier knockout competition to the SAA Supa8 one already in the cabinet that Mosimane made the quick changes he did in the Wednesday match he also finished with nine players.
"What happened was that Lungisani (Ndlela) complained about a hamstring problem and I took him off. I could not risk him sustaining any more pain that could have let to him missing the final.
In fact, I had spoken to my players before the match and told them that I would substitute anyone of them who feels any pain or gets given a yellow card."
So when they trot on to the Loftus Stadium pitch on Friday night, expect a weakened SuperSport outfit attempting to overturn a 4-1 first round loss.
| R2,5-million winners prize they stand to gain should they beat Wits |
Not that he doesn't rate the continental competition. Far from it, for Pitso feels their success this season owes a lot to their participation in the Confederation Cup.
"Playing in Africa has been of great benefit to us. It has helped us in terms of mental strength. The problems we've encountered there have made us stronger. Hence we've qualified for all three cup finals this season."
So it could be that Matsatsantsa a Pitori will lose two successive matches at their cauldron within three days. Not that their supporters will care.
After all, the R2,5-million winners prize they stand to gain should they beat Wits - as many expect them to - in next weekend's Absa Cup final is worth much more than what's at stake in the Confederation Cup.
In any case, success in the Absa Cup will see them qualify for a second bite at the competition next year.
- This article was originally published on page 30 of Saturday Star on May 21, 2005
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