MTNFootball

Pitso Mosimane will look back on his tenure as Bafana Bafana coach and know that he was close to getting it right.

Mosimane had two spells in charge of the national team, the first before the arrival of Carlos Alberto Perreira in 2007, and then after the Brazilian left following the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

In that time he was in charge for 23 matches and lost just four of those, three of which were friendly internationals. His only competitive defeat came in Niger in a 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier last year.

But Mosimane’s problem was the 10 draws his side managed, which ultimately led to a failure to reach the Nations Cup earlier this year, as well as a poor start to the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

His philosophy seemed to be not to lose, rather than to go for a win and if that is the case, he was a success. Just eight goals conceded in 23 games is a record that any national coach would be envious of, but the flipside is that his team managed to score just 17 goals in that time too.

His second tenure, after the World Cup, included 16 games, six wins, seven draws and three defeats. A win ratio of 38 percent was simply not good enough.

And had he turned a draw against Sierra Leone last October into a win, subsequently qualifying for the Nations Cup, he would likely now still be in a job, no matter how Bafana performed at the event.  
The same rings true for game against Ethiopia on Sunday, but his determination to select two defensive midfielders and half-fit players ultimately led to his downfall.

Ethiopia were there for the taking, as were Sierra Leone, but Mosimane did not believe in his side enough to go all out for the win.
He laid the blame for his demise on a lack of finishing from the forwards, but in truth they only created a handful of chances against Ethiopia, and perhaps less against Sierra Leone, and that was the problem.  

Pitso Mosimane                    
P23      W9      D10     L4        GF17   GA8

First spell:
P7        W3      D3       L1        GF3     GA1

Second spell:
P16      W6      D7       L3        GF14   GA7


First spell matches:
10.05.06 (a)         v Lesotho 0-0 
20.05.06 (a)         v Swaziland 1-0 (Mhlongo 13’)
21.05.06 (a)         v Botswana 0-0
16.08.06 (a)         v Namibia 1-0 (Mashego 61’)
02.09.06 (h)         v Congo 0-0
08.10.06 (a)         v Zambia 1-0 (A Mokoena 28’)
15.11.06 (a)         v Egypt 0-1


Second spell matches:
11.08.10 (h)         v Ghana 1-0 (Mphela 42')
04.09.10 (h)         v Niger 2-0 (Mphela 12', Parker 45')
10.10.10 (a)         v Sierra Leone 0-0
17.11.10 (h)         v USA 0-1
09.02.11 (h)         v Kenya 2-0 (Somma 2', Pienaar 44')
26.03.11 (h)         v Egypt 1-0 (Mphela 90')
14.05.11 (a)         v Tanzania 1-0 (Sangweni 44’)
05.06.11 (a)         v Egypt 0-0
10.08.11 (h)         v Burkina Faso 3-0 (Mphela 14’, 56’, Tshabalala 19’)
04.09.11 (a)         v Niger 1-2 (Jali 76’)
08.10.11 (h)         v Sierra Leone 0-0
12.11.11 (h)         v Cote d’Ivoire 1-1 (Mphela 53’)
15.11.11 (a)         v Zimbabwe 1-2 (Grobler 29’)
09.01.12 (a)         v Equatorial Guinea 0-0
29.02.12 (h)         v Senegal 0-0
03.06.12 (h)         v Ethiopia 1-1 (Mphela 77’)