Pitso Mosimane v Stuart Baxter – three previous showdowns

Pitso Mosimane and Stuart Baxter will meet yet again on Saturday in opposite dugouts, this time in the biggest game either has played against the other – the Caf Champions League final between Al Ahly and Kaizer Chiefs at the Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca.

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As it stands, Baxter’s actual physical presence on the touchline is in doubt, as he still awaits his work permit, but either way he will be in the stands, and there is no doubt he has now had time to put some of his own imprint on this Chiefs squad, while a huge amount of credit also has to go to interim coaches Arthur Zwane and Dillon Sheppard.

Baxter and Mosimane have met on multiple occasions, of course, in the Premier Soccer League, while Baxter was in his first spell at Chiefs, and later at SuperSport United, and Mosimane presided over a hugely successful era at Mamelodi Sundowns.

Phakaaathi takes a look at three of the most memorable meetings, in a coaching rivalry set to resume this weekend.

April 5, 2014 – Kaizer Chiefs 0 Mamelodi Sundowns 1

Baxter’s Chiefs were defending champions and three points clear of Sundowns at the top of the Premiership when Masandawana came to FNB Stadium in April 2014. Mosimane’s Sundowns, however, were building momentum, and had won six league games on the trot. In a tight match, as it often is between sides coached by Baxter and Mosimane, Teko Modise’s bizarre strike won it in the 76^th minute. Modise actually hit a long pass from just inside the opposition half that bounced in the area and without another player touching it, flew past Itumeleng Khune and into the back of the net. It was Sundowns who went on to win the league that season, finishing two points ahead of Chiefs.

April 29, 2015 – Mamelodi Sundowns 0 Kaizer Chiefs 1

Chiefs had a brilliant 2014/15 season under Stuart Baxter, making it all-the-more surprising when he moved on at the end of the campaign. Amakhosi had already wrapped up the league title by the time they visited Sundowns at the Lucas Moripe Stadium, but rubbed salt into the Tshwane giants’ wound with a stoppage time winner from Bernard Parker. Parker fired home a cross from the recently-retired Reneilwe Letsholonyane, just a few minutes after Sundowns had seen Siyanda Zwane sent off for a second bookable offence.

April 13, 2017 – Mamelodi Sundowns 5 SuperSport United 0

Stuart Baxter had his share of success against Sundowns while at Kaizer Chiefs, but at SuperSport United it was a different story, with his Matsatsantsa side regularly beaten by Mosimane’s Masandawana. The worst result was undoubtedly in April 2017, when Sundowns slaughtered SuperSport 5-0, though Bidvest Wits ended up beating Masandawana to the Premiership title. Khama Billiat, who is now with Baxter at Kaizer Chiefs, got two goals in a comprehensive drubbing of Baxter’s side. The Scotsman left SuperSport at the end of the season to take up the Bafana Bafana job, though not before he and SuperSport won a second successive Nedbank Cup title.