Mosimane’s chance to get back on track with light October schedule
Pitso Mosimane’s Al Wahda have a chance to get back on track in the UAE Pro League with a light October schedule.
The Abu Dhabi-based club suffered their second league defeat of the season, but they have a favourable run-in this month.
Al Wahda were beaten 3-1 by second-placed Shabab Al Ahli, the former Mamelodi Sundowns coach’s most difficult fixture so far. The result left them in sixth place on the 16-team log.
HOW MOSIMANE’S OCTOBER SCHEDULE LOOKS LIKE
Al Wahda will start their October campaign with an away game against Baniyas on October 6th.
Popularly known as The Sky Blues, they finished 11th in the 2022/23 season and have not started the new season too well. Baniyas have lost two games out of four, with the other two ending as a draw and loss.
The club based in Al Shamkha, in the Baniyas area of Abu Dhabi, has conceded eight goals and scored the same number of goals. They gained promotion to the topflight after winning the second-tier league in the 2017/18 season. Currently sitting on position eight, they will be looking to climb up the table.
Thereafter, the former Bafana Bafana mentor will have a three-week break before he plays his last match of the month. He will guide his side against Al Ittihad Kalba, who are in position 10, at home on October 27th.
That match will be their final game of the month as they look to keep up pace with the joint log leaders Al Ain and Shabab Al Ahli. While Mosimane has lost two games already, the early pacesetters have maintained a 100 per cent record.
Against Al Ittihad Kalba, he faces a side that finished eighth last season. Since the turn of the millennium, The Tigers, established in 1972, have won three league titles. However, in the last five seasons, they have finished 11th thrice and eighth twice, highlighting their struggles.
Mosimane will be hoping to use this light schedule to get his team back to winning ways. Al Wahda have not won the league title since the 2009/10 season, which was the fourth in the history of the club.
The former Bafana Bafana coach has the mandate to win the league title with the UAE club. He knows he will need to start picking up points if he wants to challenge for honours this season.
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