By Monwabisi Jimlongo
Legendary Mike Ntombela believes Pitso Mosimane and his team Al Ahly will stand their own against European champions Bayern Munich.
The Egyptians are going to meet the German giants in a FIFA Club World Cup semi-final match at the Al Rayyan Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar, on Monday (20h00).
The Mosimane-led Al Ahly beat Qatari side Al-Duhail 1-0 last Thursday to set up a date with the Germans.
“It’s going to be very difficult, but I think Al Ahly have an equal chance to win the game. I know that Pitso is going to make sure that he tries and win the game,” Ntombela, who worked with Mosimane at Mamelodi Sundowns, said.
“I’m looking forward to watching the game and be able to say where they lost or won it. I think Pitso has a bigger chance of causing an upset. If he doesn’t, then he will be able to accept and admit to losing to a better team.”
Meanwhile, Ntombela reckons that the former Sundowns and SuperSport United mentor will return to coach Bafana Bafana one day.
The erstwhile Sundowns and Wits University left-back also believes that it was too early for Mosimane to coach Bafana Bafana after he was appointed in 2010.
Mosimane was fired in 2012 following a bad start to the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
“I told him that he was not ready when he went to the national team because he hadn’t achieved enough to deserve to be there. I also told him then that he could only deserve to be there once he had done well at the top three clubs,” Ntombela, who has known Mosimane for more than 30 years, said.
“I feel he is ready to go to the national team now. I think he will go back to the national team deservedly so unlike it was the case when he was pushed to the team. He will go there having proved himself at Sundowns and Al Ahly.”
