JOHANNESBURG - Mamelodi Sundowns’ coach Pitso Mosimane has described taking the club's home games to Loftus Versfeld as suicidal.
The Brazilians' coach slammed the pitch of the venue, that's home to rugby side the Blue Bulls, after their 2-1 loss to Polokwane City in the Absa Premiership on Tuesday.
Mosimane joined Kaizer Chiefs coach Steve Komphela in criticising the state of a pitch that also hosts rugby matches after failing to get a desirable result. Komphela described the Free State Stars' pitch as pathetic after playing to a 1-1 draw with Bloemfontein Celtic.
“It’s a rugby pitch,” Mosimane said. “But Ellis Park is a rugby pitch also and it’s good. They don’t get the pitch right (here at Loftus for a football match). It’s always frustrating (playing at) Loftus. And it’s our home game remember?
"You can’t blame anyone. We should look at ourselves first. But coming here is suicide. You can’t move the ball. We are a free-flowing team. This works against us. But (it was bad) for both teams. But if you play on a counter (like Polokwane played) it’s easy. When you have to probe to go inside, you can’t go inside.”
Mosimane said he preferred playing at Lucas Moripe Stadium instead of Loftus. But that puts the club in a catch-22 as Loftus is easier to access from the various townships in Tshwane unlike making the trip to Atteridgeville which is daunting for some people.
“Here we are shooting ourselves in the foot. Personally I don’t think it (Loftus) suits us. It doesn’t suit our play. The club and Loftus must help,” Mosimane said. “If the pitch at Ellis Park is good like that and you can play on it, I mean they host the same number of games, that means there is something wrong (with Loftus).
"Unfortunately this is the perfect place for us. The stadium is good, hospitable and good for our people whether coming from Mamelodi or Atteridgeville. They only take one taxi to get here. It’s convenient but very sad.”