Pitso Mosimane (Photo by Philip Maeta/Gallo Images)
But lately, he never misses an opportunity to downplay Masandawana’s chances of claiming the Absa Premiership, by saying the league is not in their hands.
READ: Mosimane blasts PSL prosecutor for Sirino saga
They trail Kaizer Chiefs by four points – an Amakhosi side they still have to play again this season.
What “Jingles” is sure about is that his team has the know-how when it comes to chasing for the title as they pipped Orlando Pirates twice in a row and at some point, leapfrogged the Glamour Boys when it looked certain that the league crown was headed to Naturena.
“We know how to deal with the stress and the pressure, I mean, we play in the Caf Champions League. If we play against Wydad Casablanca, Al-Ahly, USM Algers and all those teams, it is always like that. It is very intensive but we have the experience to deal with this,” said Mosimane.
One person who has been involved in most of Downs’ league games is defender Motjeka Madisha (right), who only missed one league game so far. Madisha has produced back-to-back Man-of-the-Match performances, on the back of family challenges where Mosimane had to step in to remedy the situation.
“He has been emotional, he brought his mom to the training, I had a long chat with his mom, we sat down and had coffee and calmed her down. Shame, tough, but okay, he is a good boy and football is not only on the pitch.
“It was a family issue and I have got to try and be a psychologist and a social worker and I am not accredited for that, I don’t know these things, I have got my own issues also, but you have to do what you have to do.
“We managed to get him right and the family stable and then he gave me a Man-of-the-Match performance.
“We show that we care because it is not about football, we are dealing with human beings. Before you deal with a player, he is a human being first.”
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