JOHANNESBURG - “I want to win every day,” a bullish Pitso Mosimane said after Mamelodi Sundowns were crowned CAF Super Cup champions at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday at the expense of TP Mazembe.
The trophy is the second continental title the Brazilians have won under Mosimane, after their CAF Champions League success last year.
The journey to achieving that required a change in mind-set.
Mosimane has positioned Sundowns as more than just a club to go to for a fat cheque signed by billionaire Patrice Motsepe, but a club to join to conquer the country and the continent.
Sundowns conquered both last year. They won the league with the most number of points (71) in the 16-team PSL-era before they became African champions. That was the easy part, retaining those trophies will be the hard part.
“The Super Cup is in the trophy cabinet, we move on,” Mosimane said. “We trained the following day (yesterday) after winning it because we have a game against Platinum Stars (Tuesday). We did the same thing after we won the Champions League. We trained the following day because we had a game against Polokwane City.
"That’s the mentality. We don’t dwell too much on our success. We are constantly thriving to be better than we were yesterday. You don’t have to be that talented (to do well in my team) but you have to work hard.”
At the heart of Sundowns’ success is a high work-rate, from the technical team to the support staff and the players, driven by Mosimane and his obsessive planning. That planning will be put to the test in the next four months as Sundowns will be competing on three fronts - the league, Champions League and Nedbank Cup, just like last season’s league runner’s up Bidvest Wits.
The Brazilians resume their catch-up in the league with a trip to Phokeng to face Dikwena, who advanced to the first round of the CAF Confederation Cup on the day Sundowns were crowned Super Cup champions. How these clubs juggle their domestic and continental duties will shape how they finish this season.
Both teams are warming up. #CAFSuperCup @IOLsport pic.twitter.com/v75sbbQ09I
— Njabulo Ngidi (@NJABULON) February 18, 2017
“I am also interested to see how Wits are going to deal with this, a 10-hour trip to Cairo, face Al-Ahly and then come back to play the league on Wednesday,” Mosimane said. “It’s not going to be easy, unless you weaken the team against Al-Ahly because you want to win the league.
"But what’s your guarantee that you will win the league? Last year everybody focused on not playing in the Champions League and Confederation Cup, saving players to win the league. We won the league. It might be the same thing again. There are no guarantees, even for us. That’s why you have to get something, we have the Super Cup.
"You can’t say that you are saving players for the league. It’s not in your hands. At this point in time, the league is our’s to lose. It’s in our hands.”
Sundowns’ are six games and seven points behind log-leaders Kaizer Chiefs. The Brazilians stuttered at the beginning of their catch up, still celebrating winning the Champions League with their eyes in Japan thinking about the Fifa Club World Cup.
“We have created a good culture here,” Mosimane said. “Players know that if they aren’t there, there is someone else who can do the job in their absence and we can still win.
"You can’t lose the momentum because if you do, someone else will come and take your place. You will have a tough time getting it back. When we are really going for it, I don’t change the team. Everybody has to fight for their place.”