Pitso Mosimane’s Tuesday night became a nightmare when he witnessed his Saudi Pro League team, Abha FC, lose badly against Al Nassr, a team led by Cristiano Ronaldo.
All the optimism Mosimane had instilled in Abha since joining the team at the start of the season was dashed in the 8-0 thumping of Al Nassr.
Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in the first half and Sadio Mane found the net in between, so there was no resiliency at all.
By the time the final whistle blew at Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Sports City, it had grown to eight goals, meaning that Mosimane’s relegation struggle was officially underway.
Mosimane, who has eight points from his first seven games, looked despondent as he observed the action from the sidelines.
After just one game, Abha’s defense saw its whole improvement thwarted by the former Bafana Bafana, who now has 68 goals conceded in 26 appearances.
Mosimane was quoted by Saudi media as saying, “I take full responsibility,” during his post-match press conference following the humiliating loss.
“We don’t have an excuse, and we can’t go on under this circumstance.
“After making a lot of blunders, we have to accept the loss.
We have a hard lesson to learn from this.
“At this point, our primary goal is to remain in the Saudi League,” Mosimane stated in response to inquiries concerning his selection decisions, particularly the exclusion of Saad Baqir.
Since taking over as head coach of SuperSport United in 2001, Mosimane has never had to deal with a relegation.
There are eight games left for Abha.
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