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Mosimane admits he could lose his job if Kaizer Chiefs beat Ahly
'In Egypt, if you don’t win the Champions League and the league you might as well try to look the other way, but that is why I am here living on the edge,' said the Ahly head coach.
Pitso Mosimane knows his job is at risk if he loses to Kaizer Chiefs but would not have it any other way. Picture: EPA/KHALED ELFIQI
Pitso Mosimane knows that there is a possibility that he could lose his job as the head coach of AlmAhly if he does not successfully defend the Caf Champions League on July 17, when he leads the Red Devils in the final against Kaizer Chiefs in Morocco.
ALSO READ: How a Chiefs Champions League win is vital for SA football
Al Ahly president, Mahmoud “Bebo” El Khati is known to be one man who is hard to please as he always expects coaches to deliver the Champions League and the Egyptian league.at the very least and if “Jingles” fails he too could be shown the exit door at the continent’s most successful club.
The former Mamelodi Sundowns mentor told the South African Football Journalists Association that he is aware of the position he finds himself in and that is why he decided to turn his back on Downs – a place he described as a “comfort zone”.
“I jumped from Sundowns because I knew that the DStv Premiership is sorted, let’s be honest. Any coach can be able to win the league with a team like Sundowns and that team can win the league for the next four years, no doubt,” said Mosimane.
“In Egypt, if you don’t win the Champions League and the league you might as well try to look the other way, but that is why I am here living on the edge because I can be in the comfort zone in South Africa and then what? I am done with being in the comfort zone. I must be on the edge and see what I have because it is easy to stay in an area and you keep winning but I love to face the cold front and it is not easy. Other coaches stay in the protected area and they keep going, that’s their life,” he added.
Mosimane says that at Sundowns if you don’t win the league you could get the axe, but it is not the same with the Champions League, where there is less pressure to lift the trophy.
“I faced that in South Africa in terms of the league because I think if you don’t win the league at Sundowns you might be sacked but I’m not sure about the Champions League because it is a different story. You play it differently and you need extensive experience. It is not about how good you pass the ball, it is complex. You need to have the right players and the right tactics and you don’t play it like the local league,” added Mosimane.
