Alexandria – “Bring the trophy inside”, Pitso Mosimane bellowed as he instructed a Mamelodi Sundowns’ official to fetch the CAF Champions League crown so that he could enter Borg El-Arab Stadium’s auditorium with it.
The Sundowns’ coach didn’t want to be far from the biggest prize in club football in the continent. He has been obsessed with it since he started his coaching career at SuperSport United, taking them to the group stage that they wouldn't have thought they'd get to.
But at Sundowns, who lost in the final in 2001, it was a dream that he shared with the club president Patrice Motsepe.
The billionaire didn’t just say that he wants his club to be an African champion, but he also invested in it with Mosimane at the forefront of driving that vision. Sundowns spent most of their pre-season outside the country under Mosimane, going from Nigeria to Ghana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The drive for that was to prepare the players for the conditions of the Champions League.
Coincidentally, to reach the final of this edition Sundowns had to travel to Zambia in the first leg. Familiarity helped them overcome that hurdle. Now that Mosimane has tasted what it’s like to be an African champion, he has his sights on bigger things.
“Japan in the Fifa Club World Cup is next. There is also the CAF Super Cup (against the winner of the CAF Confederation Cup between TP Mazembe and MO Bejaia). Let’s go. Let’s find out where we are in global football. We will know where we are because we will be playing against the people who have won their continental competitions. It will give us a good measurement to see where we are,” Mosimane said.
It was evident that Mosimane had his eye on the future with the squad he travelled with here. Thapelo Morena, Yannick Zakri, Samuel Julies, Ricardo Nascimento, Sibusiso Vilakazi and Anele Ngcongca, who is on crutches, were there to soak up the environment and prepare themselves for next year because they weren’t registered for this year’s tournament. Some of these players were also there to prepare for the start of the Brazilians’ Telkom Knockout title defence against Polokwane City on Thursday.
Sundowns arrive back in the country tomorrow. They wouldn’t have had enough time to prepare for this game if they had stayed behind. Yesterday they recovered from the final in Cairo where they’ll train today before flying out at night. It’s a tough balancing act, along with the fixture congestion that shows how challenging competing on the domestic and continental fronts is.
“I believe that any team that plays in the Champions League or the Confederation Cup, and you really want it, pays a heavy price,” Mosimane said. “You get injuries. We lost the league last year because of this Champions League. We lost the Nedbank Cup to (Orlando) Pirates because of this year’s Champions League. We dropped two points against Maritzburg United this season because we were focusing on the Zesco (United) game (in the semi-final). If you win, it’s really worth it though.
“I would also like to thank (Bidvest) Wits and Gavin (Hunt) for giving us a wake-up call in the MTN8 final. If we had won that cup, maybe we could have dropped this one. That loss gave us a little bit of humility. We were humbled. As a coach I can’t ask for more. This was the only trophy that I hadn’t won. I can go home and say that at least I have contributed to South African football.”
The Star