Mosimane expects season to conclude, doubts Sun City camp

The SA Football Association (Safa) and the Premier Soccer League (PSL) have commissioned a task force to come up with a strategy on when the right time would be for games to be played behind closed doors.

JOHANNESBURG - Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane fully expects the current Absa premiership season to be concluded.

The 2019/2020 league season has been on pause since mid-March as a result of the coronavirus lockdown imposed by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The SA Football Association (Safa) and the Premier Soccer League (PSL) have commissioned a task force to come up with a strategy on when the right time would be for games to be played behind closed doors.

And with his side in the running for the league title and the Nedbank cup, Mosimane on Sunday shared his thoughts on how the games could be completed.

“The season can be concluded and to be honest, I think a month can conclude a season,” he said after signing a new four-year deal with the club.

“If we do well, work well, do our things right, we do our precautions, we do our health issues right, I think a round of eight games can be done in a month. It’s not for me to say when and how but I’m looking at things the way they are. If we play weekend, Wednesday, weekend, you’ve already done three games in one week. So, you can see that a month is enough. And the semi-finals and finals of Nedbank also are two games. You can have it Saturday to Saturday. It’s seven days. So, we can complete [the season], in my opinion”.

Mosimane has also expressed doubts about the PSL’s reported plans to hold a camp in Sun City in order to conclude the current campaign.

The resort in Rustenburg is believed to be the preferred option as the league considers housing all 32 Absa Premiership and GladAfrica Championship sides to complete the season.

The plan will be proposed to government, with hopes that games could be played in July if given the green light.

“For me, Rustenburg has a real problem of accommodation, big problem of accommodation,” he shared revealing that when they used to play Platinum Stars, the only decent accommodation they could find was the Royal Marang Hotel.

“So, who is going to stay at Royal Marang and who is not going to stay there? And there is a lack of training pitches in Rustenburg. When last did you see the Olympic Stadium used and how does the pitch look like now? So you cannot just say that, and are we all going to play on one pitch at Royal Bafokeng (Stadium) and where will we all stay?"

He went on to state: “Maybe you say we should all stay in Sun City‚ I don’t know if we will all stay in Sun City because Sun City hotels have different grades and standards. You have the Lost City‚ Cascades‚ Cabanas and other hotels in there‚ so who is going to stay at Cabanas and who is going to stay at the Lost City?

"We will all want the best accommodation. You can do it, but you must look at it carefully and say is it easy to do it? In terms of controlling people‚ you can do it at Sun City but in terms of accommodation, how are you going to say Chiefs is staying at Lost City and Sundowns are staying at the Cabanas? How do you come up with that decision? You can do it but you are going to create problems. It’s not an easy one but it is possible.”

While games have been on pause, that hasn’t stopped Mosimane from planning for next season.

He’s revealed that the club wants to sign more than two players in the upcoming transfer window, with the attack being his biggest area of interest.

George Maluleka is already set to move from Kaizer Chiefs to the Brazilians, having signed a pre-contract agreement.