Pitso Mosimane has discussed some of the challenges hindering South African players from making it to some of the top clubs in the world.
South Africa does not have a player playing for a team in any of the five major leagues in Europe and Mosimane says while a lot of stars from the country are similar in stature to some of the world’s best, they cannot match up in other areas like mentality and nutrition.
“I’ve been around. And I also know why I did not make the biggest success in in Europe,” Mosimane said on the Dan Corder Show, as quoted by iDiski Times.
“And I also know why we don’t have a Manchester United, a Man City, a Real Madrid player [from South Africa], a Barcelona… And I’ve also been a coach, as I said, in Bafana, where we played everybody – we played Spain, Germany, Brazil, Italy, we played all those teams to prepare for the World Cup.
“And I’ve also been the coach of Bafana, and I’ve now been outside, I’ve played against the best teams in the continent like Al Ahly, Esperance, Wydad, those are the best team in the continent. Nobody can say anything.
Pitso cites what is lacking in talent development
“If you have to check which team has won the Champions League more than other teams in the continent. I mean, 70% or 85% of those trophies are won by the North Africans. And we can say they don’t have the flair that we have, but then put the flair and win it. Do you know what I’m trying to say?”
Mosimane, who has worked in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and recently in Iran, is hoping to use that experience to improve youngsters currently training at his Pitso Mosimane Youth Football project and he feels a holistic approach to football development is what is lacking in South Africa.
“And I’ve been playing against Sadio Mane, [Cristiano] Ronaldo, Riyad Mahrez, just to mention all these big names that we all know. I’ve played against them on the pitch, [N’Golo] Kante and all that, and then I see, what’s the real challenge we have in South Africa, why don't we have players in those spaces, and how do we do that?” he posed.
“So, everybody talks about football development, but we don’t really talk about how to do that. So how to do it in the programme, is what you say – positioning, manipulating the ball – we need that because that’s what makes Neymar and Vinicius Jr, who they are, Rodrygo, etc.
“We don’t need to talk about the physical side, people think it’s only the strength. It’s not only that, speed is also part of the physical side of the game.
Mofokeng similar to Real Madrid’s Rodrygo but…
“And we also need things that we don’t even think about them, such as nutrition. And we also need to know how to condition the player, how to train him to be able to play in those spaces.”
The former Mamelodi Sundowns coach used the example of Real Madrid star Rodrygo, who is similar in size to Orlando Pirates starlet Relebohile Mofokeng, but the Bucs ace does not have the technical ability or mentality to match that of the Brazilian.
“Rodrygo is the same as Mofokeng of Orlando Pirates. So, it’s not all about the size, it’s a package,” he added.
“And also, not forgetting the mentality and the social lifestyles and social life skills – the attitude to win, the attitude to persevere. Can you do it when it’s difficult, in difficult conditions? How do you want to win? How much more do you want it? How you train. Do you really want to like it, or you want it?
“You know, for you to be where you are at this moment, how hard you worked, how prepared, and you need to do things differently, so we don’t have that culture in the country.”
