Shikabala praises Pitso Mosimane’s bold changes after Bafana win in Cairo

Former Egypt international Mahmoud “Shikabala” Hassan has described Pitso Mosimane as “very smart” after the coach’s changes helped South Africa beat the Pharaohs 1-0 in an international friendly in Cairo on Sunday.

Mosimane made nine changes to the team that had started the 5-0 victory over Eritrea in a 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier, using the match to give opportunities to players who have had limited involvement with Bafana Bafana.

The decision paid off as South Africa secured an impressive result against Egypt. Puso Dithejane scored the only goal after taking advantage of an error by Egyptian goalkeeper Mohamed Shobeir.

While Mosimane used the fixture to assess the strength of his squad, Egypt coach Hossam Hassan largely retained his more established players.

Shikabala backs Mosimane’s selection policy

Shikabala believes that contrast worked in Mosimane’s favour, arguing that the Bafana coach reduced the pressure on himself by selecting less experienced players against a strong Egyptian side.

“Mosimane is very smart, he was able to remove the pressure from him and bring in new players, and he played with substitutes against the Egyptian national team,” Shikabala said, according to Egypt Telegraph.

The former Zamalek player also questioned Hassan’s decision not to introduce more young players during the friendly.

“I wished Hossam Hassan would have brought on the young striker Hamza Abdel Karim, Omar Fayed and Tarek Alaa during the match, but today Hossam Hassan played with the starting lineup and lost everything,” he said.

Shikabala added that Egypt should improve their approach to set pieces and suggested the national team appoint a specialist in that area to support Hassan’s coaching staff.

“We want to add a member to the Egyptian national team’s coaching staff who specialises in set pieces, just like the big teams do,” he said.

Mosimane maintains perfect start

The victory completed a perfect international window for Mosimane, whose side had already beaten Guinea 2-1 before defeating Eritrea 5-0.

It means the former Al Ahly coach has begun his latest spell in charge of Bafana Bafana with three wins from three matches.

The result in Cairo also gave Mosimane another chance to evaluate the depth of his squad before the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Kenya.