‘I’ve never lost my first match’: Pitso happy he’s back on track in UAE

Despite Pitso Mosimane enduring an unusual start at Al Wahda FC, the South African coach is confident he is on the right track at his new United Arab Emirates (UAE) club.   

Mosimane began his UAE Pro League campaign with a 2-1 defeat to Al Bataeh at home in Abu Dhabi last month. 

The former Aly Ahly, Al-Ahli Saudi and Mamelodi Sundowns boss pointed out the interesting statistic that it was the first time in his illustrious coaching career he had kicked off a league campaign at a new team with a defeat.   

“We didn’t start on a good note, we lost the first league game and then you start wondering, what is happening here?” Mosimane said.   

“And I’ve never lost my first [league] match with any team. That was a surprise to me, but it’s part of it.”   

Mosimane bounced back in style, claiming a 1-0 victory and derby bragging rights against Al Jazira away from home before beating Andres Iniesta’s Emirates 3-0 in the first leg of the UAE League Cup first round.   

Before the defeat against Bataeh in the league — his first domestic match in charge of Wahda — Mosimane’s opening task at his new team was in the 2023 Arab Champions Cup finals in Saudi Arabia.

There he negotiated Wahda’s progression past group D with 2-1 wins against Kuwait SC and Algeria’s CR Belouizdad, before a 5-4 penalties defeat to Saudi’s Al-Shabab in the quarterfinals.

Mosimane — speaking at Lofentse Girls High School by in Orlando, where a multipurpose sports court named after the coach was handed over by Nedbank and Orlando Pirates — is pleased at how his team responded to their opening loss in the domestic campaign.

“There’s no better way of bouncing back than to win a derby with the biggest team in the UAE. I think you know Al Jazira, a big club with big names, big coach in [former Dutch international] Frank de Boer.   

“There was nothing bigger than that. They’ve got top quality foreign players. We won that, and we played the third game against Emirates.”   

Mosimane has achieved much in his career, including winning the Caf Champions League three times — twice with Ahly and once at Sundowns — and Saudi Arabia’s second-tier Yelo League with Ahli in 2022-23 to seem them promoted them back to the top division.   

In the UAE, Mosimane has been tasked with leading Al Wahda to their first league title since 2010.

“Football in the UAE is a bit different from where I was in Saudi,” he said.

“In Saudi I was in the first division and now we are in the Premier League, so the quality of the foreign players is quite a lot bigger. I mean we have players like [Brazilian] Allan in midfield, who played for Everton.   

“We have a chance to have players who have played at the highest level. Of course, it’s also a bit different from in Saudi because now expectations are high. We are supposed to win the league. The team came third last season.   

“You will always find big names in that space. We played against [Spain’s 2010 World Cup-winner] Iniesta, he’s still got touches. Not young, but the quality remains. It was good to play against him, exciting. We won the game 3-0 but we are still finding our feet. It’s still early, but I think we’ve got a bit of confidence from winning the Al Jazira game.

“It’s [like] a Pirates and Chiefs derby. We won that one. Bragging rights are important in that space and slowly we are getting there.”