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Johannesburg - Barely a day after being made to publicly apologise to the country’s local club bosses, Mamelodi Sundowns boss Pitso Mosimane has yet again criticised the Premier Soccer League, this time taking exception to the man of the match award.
Mosimane, somewhat depleted after his team’s scoreless draw against Mpumalanga Black Aces in Atteridgeville on Wednesday night, cut short his post-match interview with a group of reports and walked away, shortly after questioning who decides the Man-of-the-Match award.
“I’m surprised. Who chooses that? He was all over the place in the first half, I mean, really?” Mosimane said afterwards.
“Who’s ball did he save off the line? Who did he mark? I’m not criticising the [player], the boy is a good player.
“I said the selection of the Man-of-the-match leaves more to be desired.”
Sibusiso Gumede won the award for his efforts in helping Aces keep a clean-sheet. The defender was instrumental at the back, making a last-ditch block on the goal-line in the dying seconds to help earn a point for the visitors.
Mosimane believed the award should have gone to one of the Sundowns players, hinting at the likes of Khama Billiat and Cuthbert Malajila, who he felt caused problems for the Aces defence.
According to PSL laws, the award for the game’s best performer is decided by a panel of television commentators.
On Wednesday the panel included Mark Gleeson and William Shongwe. Gleeson is one of the country’s longest-serving football journalists and is a highly-respected commentator, statistician and analyst.
Aces coach, Clive Barker, disagreed with his opposite number.
“I thought Gumede was fabulous. He put his life and soul into every tackle and that last tackle to get us a point was fantastic,” Barker said.
On Tuesday, in the company of Sundowns’ owner Patrice Motsepe, Mosimane apologised to the PSL for comments he had made in August.
Mosimane, in a heated post-match interview live on television, hinted at a conspiracy against his team after Pirates lodged a complaint querying Alje Schut's eligibility.
The Soweto team queried the player's registration card -- the document which gives a player the relevant authorisation to play in the PSL.
Mosimane questioned how Pirates had come to know about the player's card, which he found "very, very strange".
A plethora of missed opportunities would have done little to help ease the pain for Mosimane on Wednesday night, as the Brazilians were held to a third successive Premiership stalemate.
