Heartbreaking turn of events for Pitso Mosimane in Saudi Arabia

It was a rather heartbreaking turn of events in Saudi Arabia, Pitso Mosimane failed to help Abha Club retain its Saudi Pro League status.

Abha suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Al Hazm on Monday night in the season’s last match played at the Al-Hazm Club Stadium.

Mosimane joined Abha Club in January, with the sole mandate of helping the club retain its Saudi Pro League status. Last week, they beat Al Khaleej 2-1 to reach the final day sitting above the relegation zone. 

And all they needed was a win over the hapless Al Hazm who were only fulfilling the fixture since their relegation was already determined. However, it was not to be.

HOW PITSO MOSIMANE FARED IN HIS SECOND SAUDI ARABIA STINT

The two teams were deadlocked at half-time. However, Mosimane’s charges returned from the break with more firepower. And Ahmed Abdu Jaber broke the deadlock in the 47th minute.

Simply put, Abha Club had more reasons to fight than their opponents, Al Hazm. Nevertheless, Al Hazm were not willing to make it easy for the celebrated South African coach.

They restored parity on the 58th-minute mark through Gambian forward Muhammed Badamosi. Al Hazm doubled their scores in the 80th minute, putting the game well beyond the former Bafana Bafana and Mamelodi Sundowns coach.

With 32 points on their tally, Abha was therefore relegated together with Al Tai and Al Hazm. Al Tai lost 2-0 to Al-Akhdoud. Going into this one, Abha knew that they had a significantly inferior goal difference to Al Tai and Al-Akhdoud.

Hence they were gunning for maximum points to guarantee their safety. Furthermore, Abha Club ended the season with the worst defensive record in the league, conceding 87 goals throughout the season.

In addition, their defence has conceded 31 goals in the last 13 matches. This was his second mission in Saudi Arabia having helped Al Ahli bounce back into the elite league last season.

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