He may not have won silverware with Orlando Pirates, but Roger de Sa had inspired the Buccaneers to the 2013 CAF Champions League final, which they lost to Egyptian giants Al Ahly.
Now, an assistant coach in the Qatar national team, De Sa shared some of his moments at Pirates with Soccer Laduma in this interview.
How the move happened
I think it was the third attempt by Dr Khoza to try and get me over to Pirates. It was at a time when I was out of contract because I had been under contract at Wits on the previous two occasions. We had good meetings, but we could never finalise it, but this time around I was out of contract. I was on holiday and he convinced me to join straight away.
My first day on the job
I remember it. It was the day of a massive press conference and from there to training. It was a little bit of a feeling of arriving at a club like Real Madrid. It was massive. The attention, the interviews that I had to do on the first day were crazy for me. That was what the first day was like.
My assistant coach
My assistant coach was Teboho (Moloi). When I joined, he joined me straight away. He had the history of the club and he had a lot of knowledge about the previous squad. I had played with him in the national team and we had been friends for a long time, from the time when I played against him. We had become pretty good friends, so it was easy to work with him. Later on, I brought in Eric Tinkler. Of course, I felt I had the best of both and that worked for me.
Who was in the squad
The squad was good. It was really good at the time, even though it had become a bit of an aging squad. There were players who left and they were coming to the end of their contracts, but the squad was pretty good. We had a nice young bunch as well. Patrick Phungwayo was there, Sifiso Myeni was there as well, and a few others. There were players who were out of contract and were going to depart, like Benni (McCarthy), Moeneeb (Josephs) and Robyn Johannes, just to mention a few. But overall, it was a nice squad that was really willing to work.
Who was the captain and why?
My captain at the time was Lucky (Lekgwathi). Unfortunately, he was coming to the end of his career at the time, but he was a massive help. He contributed immensely. He played, but we just had to manage his playing time. His contribution was always great, both on and off the field. But then I had a lot of younger leaders. Andile Jali, Happy Jele and Oupa Manyisa and many others as well. Siya (Sangweni) was fantastic, as well as Rooi Mahamutsa, so there were a lot of leaders, to mention a few. But there were younger players coming through and they were leaders.
The best thing about the job
I think it was the everyday pressure and workload. Every weekend was a massive game, it did not matter who you were playing. I think that's what I enjoyed and also our run in Africa (CAF Champions League) was also fantastic. To be competitive in every match and fight for every game was enjoyable.
The worst thing about the job
Maybe for me it was the fact that I was not able to be in control like I had been when I had run Wits basically on my own. There were a lot of things that were out of my control, but I sort of realised very quickly that was how it was going to be. But still, that was probably the most difficult thing. A lot of things get done without your knowledge, but that took a while for me to understand. But once I got going, it was fine. There wasn't many bad things, to be honest.
Would you do it again?
You learn in football that you can never say never. I think you never know. I am not saying 'yes or no'. It's one of things that I am in football and I am in a totally different place right now. I am speaking to you from Dallas in the USA, playing in the Gold Cup. Coaching Qatar at national level is pretty far from a club in South Africa, but like I said, you never know. My intention will always be to come back to South Africa, so never say 'never'.
Did the job open doors for you?
Absolutely. To this day, I am very conscious of it. The job does change you a bit and I think the success we had in Africa, with Pirates beating the top teams in Africa to reach the final, only to lose by an odd goal to Al Ahly, opened the doors for me with the Egyptian national team and then from there onwards. So, it did open doors for me and I am very grateful. I've told Dr Khoza a few times and he knows that.
