MTN8 final - Blessed Pitso, 'cursed' Gavin chase glory

Pitso Mosimane and Gavin Hunt head into Saturday's final, at Mbombela Stadium at 5pm, with contrasting fortunes.

Pitso Mosimane and Gavin Hunt head into Saturday's final, at Mbombela Stadium at 5pm, with contrasting fortunes.

Published Sep 30, 2016

Share

If Mamelodi Sundowns and Bidvest Wits can put on half the show their coaches displayed at the PSL headquarters in Parktown yesterday, then brace yourself for an entertaining MTN8 final.

Pitso Mosimane and Gavin Hunt head into tomorrow’s final, at Mbombela Stadium at 5pm, with contrasting fortunes.

Mosimane, pictured left, could afford to declare that he is blessed, having won every domestic trophy on offer as a coach with only the MTN8 title alluding him. He will look to change that tomorrow and thereafter try to bring the prestigious CAF Champions League, where Sundowns need to get the better of Zamalek over two legs in the final, to Chloorkop.

If Mosimane is blessed, then you could argue - to a degree - that Hunt has been cursed. Despite making Wits more competitive, transforming them from a mid-table team to league contenders, he hasn’t brought any silverware to Braamfontein in his three years at the club. Last season these two coaches pushed each other in the league race, but when it mattered most, Sundowns sprinted to the title leaving Wits way behind. Mosimane believes the fact that they have played in more finals than Wits will give them an edge. 'Jingles' doesn’t need this cup as much as Hunt does. But such is his competitive streak and the high demands at Sundowns, Mosimane isn’t even prepared to lose a friendly where a cup is on offer.

“You know what has happened to the coaches who don’t win at Sundowns,” Mosimane said. “Even in my era, you know that (a section of fans called for my head, a few games after he had won the Nedbank Cup). The best thing that I can do is to make the team happy and win trophies. I told the players that when they enter the pitch and they see something that’s shiny they should say: That thing that shines, we want it in our hands.”

“There is no liberty here to go long without winning. At SuperSport (United) I was okay. You reach six cup finals and win two. Okay, no problem. I stayed there for eight years and nobody toyi-toyi’d against me. (But at Sundowns it happened despite winning trophies). Gavin is in a good space. There is no stress.”

Hunt admitted he is desperate to deliver silverware at Wits, even though he stressed that a true measure of a team is how they do in the league. If you measure Wits in the league, they have grown.

They finished in the top three in the last three seasons under Hunt. But the Brazilians finished ahead of Wits in all those seasons, including the last campaign where 14 points separated them even though Wits were second. Hunt believes that this final will test how much the gap between these two clubs is. He argues that a positive result tomorrow could set the tone for a trophy-laden season for the Clever Boys, who haven’t won anything in six years.

“For a club like us, there is a ceiling that we need to break through,” Hunt said. “If we can break through that ceiling there will be a good flow of trophies to come. It is very difficult to break through and win something. Once we get a little bit of the taste of winning, then we will do it often. The team is there. We could go on to win a few more. We just need that initial breakthrough. That’s what is holding us back.

“When we played in the Nedbank Cup two years ago, we weren’t ready. I woke up and we were in the final. I didn’t feel like we were ready to win anything of that magnitude. Now, it’s possible.”

The Star

Related Topics: