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FootballPitso Mosimane Suffers Saudi League Relegation With Abha After Heartbreaking Loss on Final Day
- Pitso Mosimane's Abha Club suffered relegation on the final day
- Abha threw away a 1-0 lead, enduring a damaging loss to Al Hazem
- The defeat leaves them in 16th spot on the league log after 34 games
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Pitso Mosimane suffered a major setback in his glistening coaching career as his side, Abha Club, were relegated from the Saudi Pro League (SPL) after losing against Al Hazem on Monday, May 27.
The former Mamelodi Sundowns manager saw his side move out of the drop zone after a narrow win in the penultimate round of games, but their efforts were undone on the final day.
According to FARPost, Mosimane joined Abha Club in January with the primary objective of ensuring the club's retention in the Saudi Pro League but ultimately fell short of his objectives.
Interestingly, two minutes after recess, Abha broke the deadlock through Saudi forward Ahmed Abdu to give Mosimane's side a glimmer of hope in their race for survival.
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But this has been their bane all season; their rearguard has been leaky, and they were thoroughly punished by Hazem, who were already relegated prior to the final round of games.
Gambian attacker Mohammed Badamosi netted the equaliser in the 58th minute, much to the chagrin of Jingles and his charges.
Regrettably, things grew from bad to worse as Mohamed Al Thani scored his fourth goal of the campaign, his first since April 20, to turn the game on its head with 10 minutes left on the clock.
Pitso then made two quick changes, bringing on Mohammed Al Oufi and Luka Djordjevic in a bid to reclaim the advantage, but his tactical tweak did little to change the fate of the game.
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FootballDefender Marcel Tisserand received his marching orders late on, while club top scorer Grzegorz Krychowiak missed a stoppage-time penalty to at least salvage a draw.
The 2-1 loss at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Buraidah meant that Abha joined Al Taee and Al Hazem as the relegated clubs in dropping down to the second tier of Saudi football.
Mosimane opens up on Kaizer Chiefs links
In a previous publication, Sports Brief reported that Pitso Mosimane has asserted that his emotions will not influence his decision when it comes to his next career move.
Mosimane considered a top contender for the Kaizer Chiefs job, emphasised that his approach will be strictly business when evaluating new offers.
Despite the heavy speculation linking him to the Naturena position, the 59-year-old affirmed that all options remain open at this time.