From leaving Al Ahly to resuscitating Al-Ahli: A look back at Pitso Mosimane’s year
It seems like just yesterday when South Africa celebrated Pitso Mosimane's move to Saudi Arabia's Al Ahli and the coach has been flying the flag high.
Mosimane's move to one of Saudi's best teams came after he parted ways with Egyptian giants Al Ahly three months after signing a new deal.
“Jingles”, as he is affectionately known locally, joined Al Ahly in September 2020 and won two Caf Champions League titles and led the club to two Caf Super Cups and an Egyptian Cup during his tenure.
The club said Mosimane asked to leave and was satisfied with his achievements.
Mosimane told a fan they should not regret his departure.
“My brother, please do not regret my departure. Al Ahly did not fire me or push me to go. I have big respect for President [Mahmoud El-] Khatib and the entire board, including all the supporters of Al Ahly. I will always cherish our trophy celebrations,” he said.
Mosimane vowed to return the Saudi Arabian club to the top flight after landing the job as coach in September.
Ahli — who have won three Saudi Pro League championships, in 1977-1978, 1983-1984 and 2015-2016 — were relegated last season and will be looking to Mosimane to restore them to the top flight.
Responding to whether he can bring back the glory days to Al Ahli, Mosimane said it can be done.
“Thank you very much Fifa World Cup. It's a difficult, demanding and challenging task, but it can be done. South Africans can deliver at any stage when given full support, confidence and trust.”
South African football fans were beaming after Mosimane registered his first win against Jeddah Club. It was his second game in charge after being announced as coach.
Mosimane thanked fans for believing in his team.
“We thank you for your support and you carried us,” he said.
He acknowledged it was a “tough game”, but said they were taking it one step at a time.
“We still have a lot of work to do.”
Mosimane hit the ground running with a second win against Al-Riyadh in their Yelo League game.
The results seemingly further assured Ahli they made a solid choice in their new coach as they tweeted a post of him celebrating with his players, titled “Hugs everywhere”.
Another tweet was a picture of Mosimane on the bench, captioned “+3 points”.
Mosimane has a two-year mandate to restore Al-Ahli.
Another stride Mosimane has been taking is to understand Arabic.
He is getting up to speed learning the language and was filmed learning words from one of his assistants as he conducted a training session.
Mosimane sought the Arabic pronunciations of “help your teammate” and “easy” and after receiving feedback put the words into practice seconds later.
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