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Fourteen years after leaving the Bafana Bafana job, the former South Africa international, Pitso Mosimane, has been named head coach of the national team again by the South African Football Association (SAFA).
Mosimane’s return closes a long chapter away from the national team and gives him another opportunity to lead the country he once represented on the pitch.
He first took charge of Bafana in 2010, replacing Carlos Alberto Parreira after the World Cup hosted by South Africa. His time in the job lasted two years before he left following the team’s failure to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.
A lot has changed since then.
Mosimane is returning as a far more decorated coach than the man who left the position in 2012. His reputation grew considerably during his successful spell with Mamelodi Sundowns, where he won the CAF Champions League in 2016, before taking his career to Egypt and leading Al Ahly to two Champions League titles.
Those achievements have made him one of the most accomplished African coaches of his generation.
Now he must put that experience to work with Bafana.
SAFA has also announced Mosimane’s technical team, giving the new coach the personnel with whom he will begin his second stint in charge.
The appointment comes at a time when expectations around South Africa’s national team have risen. Bafana have become a more competitive side in African football and will expect Mosimane to keep that progress going rather than start from scratch.
For Mosimane, it is a chance to return to a job that ended painfully the first time around.
He knows the pressure that comes with coaching Bafana. He also knows the weight that comes with trying to turn South Africa’s talent into a team capable of competing deep into major tournaments.
This time, though, he returns with a Champions League-winning résumé, years of experience abroad and a much longer list of trophies.
The first Mosimane era lasted two years.
The second begins with considerably more expectation.
