Pitso Mosimane brings in Mario Masha to strengthen PMYF

Masha, who left Sundowns this year under a cloud after he was accused of conspiring against the club, allegations which have not been tested, comes highly regarded, having worked for Sundowns for over a decade. 

He was part of the PMYF coaching setup in the Gauteng Development League (GDL) last weekend, and Mosimane says he will add a lot of value to the project...

"Well I think you know the history of Mario Masha, so I don't want to go there. Mario gave me a call and said 'coach why am I sitting at home when I belong to the football' and I said 'Mario, unfortunately we don't have the biggest foundation that could sustain you and we don't run a Bill Gates foundation here and we don't have money' and he said 'Coach it's not about the money'."

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Masha, who was part of the Sundowns teams that won the CAF Champions League and national league titles under Mosimane, Rulani Mokwena, and Manqoba Mngqithi, is one of the most respected analysts in the country. 

Mosimane says that until his next job at topflight level, Masha, who recently graduated with a UEFA A License, will be helping out in the coaching structures at PMYF...

"I said when the big teams come please go, but at this point in time you're allowed to come here to help and support after working at the highest level. He's got experience to give to these boys, so I asked him to do his match analysis like we do at Premier League and let's raise the bar."

The PMYF recently bought the status of the East Rand Athletic Football Club, and will be playing their matches in Tsakane, with the GDL focused on the U14, U15, U17, and U19 youth teams. 

They are set to launch a youth football manuscript this year, and PMYF Managing Director Moira Tlhagale says quality coaches will be a part of these programmes...

Funding is also critical for this PMYF project to be a success, and Tlhagale reveals that they have done all they could to get support, but it hasn’t been easy.

For the next two weekends, PMYF will be conducting trials for U19 and U15 (this weekend), U17 and U14 (next weekend) as they try to beef up their GDL squad. The trials will be held at the Veritas College in Springs, with kids paying an administration fee of R150. Tlhagale says their trialists will not just be limited to Gauteng only.