Former Kaizer Chiefs coach Giovani Solinas is excited that he will face a familiar face in Pitso Mosimane when the two meet in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, calling it a pleasure that he will come up against a quality coach.
Solinas was appointed recently as as Al Faisaly coach and has been in charge of two matches – drawing one and winning the other to manifest fifth in the Saudi Arabian First Division.
The former Chiefs coach will face Mosimane’s Ali Ahli at Prince Abdullah al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah, the home venue of Al Ahli, on Saturday (21:00). Mosimane’s side are on top of the Saudi League First Division with 58 points after 27 matches played.
Al Faisaly are lying fifth in the table with 43 points after 26 matches, a whooping 15 points behind Mosimane’s side.
“It’s pleasure for me to be meeting Pitso again because he’s my friend,” Solinas, who remains the only Italian to have managed in the PSL, told iDiski Times.
“I have a good relationship with him and I like the football style of Mosimane. So it’s a big pleasure to fight with Pitso again, because he’s a very good coach and everyone can learn from him.
“You can see since he arrived here, Ahli has improved a lot and they are strong – it is a team that doesn’t deserve to be playing in Division 1 but in the Premier League.”
Solinas is coaching Al Faisaly for the third time in his coaching career, having been their mentor from December 2013 until June 2014 and also five months between February and June 2017.
After the latter stint, Chiefs came calling, appointing him in June 2018 before he was sacked in December the same year.
He also coached Free State Stars twice – from December 2015 until May the following year and also September 2016 until January the following year. In the first stint, he took Stars to the Nedbank Cup semi-final, losing to losing finalists Orlando Pirates.
But throughout his career, with two stints with Free State Stars and one with Chiefs, Solinas met Mosimane’s Mamelodi Sundowns three times, losing two and drawing the other.
In Solinas’ first stint with Stars, Ea Lia Koto lost 5-2 and 4-1 in his second stint. He also met Sundowns in the opening league match of the 2018/19 season with Chiefs and that game ended in a 1-1 draw at Loftus Stadium.
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“Past is the history, you can’t compare the games of the past and the present because every game of football is different,” added Solinas.
“Of course meeting Pitso is not easy and I repeat he’s a very good coach, good strategy, good style of play. Normally Pitso coaches strong teams, quality players and that’s it very difficult to get the results.
“But we are going to try to fight and put all the best effort into getting the results.”
Story by Robin-Duke Madlala (@duke_robin).
