Pitso Mosimane laments the new normal under Covid-19

Ready or not, Pitso Mosimane and his Mamelodi Sundowns footballers enter no-man’s land at Orlando Stadium on Saturday when they meet Bidvest Wits in the Nedbank Cup semifinal.

Mosimane‚ in his online media conference ahead of Saturday’s return to football from a five-month suspension due to Covid-19‚ listed niggling injuries caused by unprecedented circumstances and uncertainty about the return date.

“It’s our new normal the position that we have never been in‚ in our lifetime‚” the Sundowns coach said.

“So for me to tell you‚ ‘We are ready‚ we know what to do‚ we know how we’re going to handle this’ — I’m not brave enough to say that.

“But I can tell you what I know‚ which is that we started training thinking we were starting on July 18. And then we overloaded players and got some injuries.

“Then we thought maybe it was August 1. And then we changed our focus to where we are now‚ which is August 8.

“So you have to understand the preparation was wrong from the very beginning.

“We were preparing quickly‚ for the games to start in 10 or 12 days from resuming training on July 3.

“The next two days we’ll make an assessment if Ali Meza is available.

“Anele Ngcongca is not training‚ Ricardo Nascimento and Denis Onyango have got niggling injuries.

“Then we had the players who could not train because they tested positive for Covid-19.

“There were players who had flu because it’s winter. Mauricio Affonso is stuck in Uruguay. Thapelo Morena is there but we don’t want to risk him yet.

“You’ve got to understand how strange football is in Covid-19. We don’t have team spirit in the camp.”

Baroka FC face Bloemfontein Celtic in Saturday’s 2pm semifinal‚ with Sundowns and Wits meeting at 7.15pm. — TimesLIVE