Neal and Pray

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IRVIN KHOZA: but at 69, perhaps it's time to step down

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 20:24:00 +0000

SALUTE! Irvin Khoza, 69 on Friday

Irvin Khoza is a very, very, very nice man.

DOLLY GOOD SHOW! Keagan finally jets off, let's hope it was worth the fuss

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 22 Jan 2017 17:39:00 +0000

MANNEQUIN OF THE MOMENT: Keagan Dolly

COULD the Keagan Dolly saga really be over? Can we stop talking about buy-out clauses and Dispute Resolution Chambers? Can we finally focus on these strange swap deals involving Chippa United?

It appears to be so. Nobody move. Anything could yet happen. But in the wee hours of Sunday morning, French Ligue 1 club Montpellier, a modest 13th out of 20 on the latest table, announced the 23-year-old South Africa would sign for 1.7m Euros on a four year deal. That’s about R24.8m. Not bad for a lad bought from R6m from Ajax Cape Town three years ago.

Tokelo Rantie moved from Malmo to Bournemouth for the same fee of around £1.5m in 2013, but no South African club was involved. Same applies to Benni McCarthy. It’s a South African record, though with transfer fees more secretive than the President’s underpants, who really knows?

Since Dolly’s move to Mamelodi Sundowns in 2014, after spending a season on loan at his old club, Dolly has won the PSL title, the Nedbank Cup, the Telkom KO and the MTN8 before, as we all know, helping Masandawana to the African Champions League triumph three months ago.

Dolly’s name appeared in the CAF Best of Africa XI at the GLO awards to put the cap on a fantastic season for club and player, even Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi could only make the bench.

But the end of his Sundowns career was blighted by a life-or-death struggle with Dolly’s agency, Siyavuma. Their boss, the no-nonsense pint-sized Yorkshireman Paul Mitchell actually employs Dolly’s dad Ramon, who was wheeled out on national radio to fight the good fight.

He’s a tough negotiator Mitchell, and he can burn the ears off any football journalist in the country when he feels he has been wronged. Again and again he told me: “Keagan’s done it all in South Africa, it’s time for him to move.” Curiously Sundowns chairman Patrice Motsepe was saying roughly the same thing at the same time.

When Sundowns successfully went to the PSL’s DRC to restore Dolly’s buy-out clause from 733,000 Euros (on his current signed contract in 2015) to £1.5m (the amount on his original contract in 2014), Mitchell went bonkers.

With Sundowns allowed to double the original bids offered last year by Greek giants Olympiakos and Montpellier, Mitchell could see his golden goose being slowly cooked as Manchester City’s City Group appeared to be keen on moving Dolly to their sister club New York City in the American MLS.

Mitchell was having none of it. The warm-afterglow of Sundowns’ African conquest quickly cooled as Mitchell and Sundowns officials went to war; serious threats and organised media campaigns followed. Mitchell claims he was threatened with jail for perjury, Sundowns claimed dodgy dealings were at play.

But in truth, what was the point? Dolly cost £1.5m at a time when Chinese clubs are offering ridiculous amounts for players coming to the end of their careers. It would barely buy you Olivier Giroud’s beard or Joe Hart’s gloves.

The deal was always on, the buy-out clause was a mere detail. It’s a bargain in current terms. Dolly said farewell to his Sundowns team-mates this week amid photogenic smiles as they returned to training over the ridiculously long Christmas break.

But it’s hard to leave with a grin when your club somehow managed to alter a signed contract, when your agent and your dad are forced to issue apologies.

Mitchell issued a statement as the deal approached closure, saying: “For Keagan to follow his dream of playing in Europe and to fly the South African flag high will be a dream come true.”

Let’s hope that’s true. The agent’s dreams have certainly come true. And Sundowns have made a 400 percent profit in three seasons.

But Dolly’s dreams? Let’s hope he doesn’t get Lost in France. Kermit Erasmus, a man with far more experience in Europe and South Africa, has just been loaned out by Rennes to Lens. It’s tough out there.

Montpellier may have seen some great names come through their ranks, but they are not giants of the French game right now. They last won a trophy in 2012.

Let’s hope we finally see a young South African explode in to the English Premier League or La Liga, or even Series A. We don’t have any at the moment. Dolly has the talent, but Bongani Khumalo can tell him how hard it is to move 5,000 miles and train in the frost for various coaches who don’t really know you.

Still, Dolly’s Wikipedia entry now states quite clearly: “Keagan Larenzo Dolly is a South African football player who plays as a midfielder for Montpellier in the League 1.” I’d love to know who edited that before he’s even played a game.

On Friday, local football media said Dolly had already had a medical in France. Before he'd left OR Tambo. There could yet be a twist in this sorry tale.

All the best Keagan, may the force be with you. Best avoid any future Star Wars.

NOT BAD KHAMA! Billiat shines at AFCON and surely Europe must be next

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 15 Jan 2017 18:54:00 +0000

TIME TO LEAVE THE COMFORT ZONE: Khama Billiat

SUNDAY afternoon in Gabon was not just about Zimbabwe holding highly-rated Algeria to a pulsating 2-2 draw, it was also about Khama Billiat finally getting the recognition he deserves.

The 26-year-old from Harare stands just 1.7m tall, at 5ft 7in, barely two inches taller than Lionel Messi, who needed growth hormone therapy. But Billiat has long been a talent as impressive in Southern Africa as Leo was in Argentina at half his age.

A product of the local Aces Academy in Harare, Billiat left CAPS United before he even played a professional game, spotted by the Ajax scouting network in Cape Town. He played 83 games for the club, scoring 21 goals alongside another huge talent, Thulani Serero.

But while Serero went off to Amsterdam, Billiat tried out with Lokomotiv in Moscow before accepting a new post closer to home: he went to Mamelodi Sundowns in 2013 for a reported fee of R10m, still a PSL record.

And when Pitso Mosimane arrived to steady the Masandawana ship, Billiat began to thrive. He scored 8 goals in 2014-15 and 12 last season as Sundowns broke the Stuart Baxter/Kaizer Chiefs stranglehold on the championship twice in the last three seasons.

While a huge fuss is being made of team-mate Keagan Dolly - Sundowns were allowed to push his contracted buy-out from around R10m to over R20m by the PSL’s Dispute Resolution Chamber - there can be little question Billiat is the bigger deal.

After a fantastic start to AFCON 2017 against Algeria - he ran out of steam a little in the second half in Franceville - Billiat was the talk of the tournament.

Two fantastic runs saw him denied only by the goalkeeper, but it was a peach of a volley midway through the first half - which damn nearly broke the crossbar - that provided the perfect Billiat moment.

Sammy Kuffour, the sometimes comic SuperSport analyst, was shaken in to coherence. He said: “Billiat is the complete player. He has pace. He is small so you don’t know what to do with him. He should be in Europe already. I’d love to see him at a big club. He is a great African talent.”

Of course, Sundowns could probably get the DRC to block any potential admirers as the European clubs queue up after AFCON, where the scouts flock like flies.

But in truth, like Dolly, Billiat should have been gone ages ago. There is talk of disciplinary problems - he was late to arrive at the Zimbabwe pre-Afcon camp - and he certainly has a comfortable life in Tshwane.

But after winning the PSL twice and the African Champions League this season, any further dalliance would be pointless.

Sundowns did all they could do delay Bongani Zungu’s move to Portugal. They’re doing the same to Dolly. Compatriot Knowledge Musona has already advised Billiat to escape his Gauging comfort zone.

The player himself says: "I would love to go and play in Europe but I will see. If I don't go to Europe I am still happy at Sundowns.”

That’s not enough. Football is a short career. Sundowns fans won’t like it, but Khama, it’s time to make the leap of faith. Faith in your own ability.

GOODBYE DOLLY! Why South Africa's shining talent must go to Europe, before it's too late

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 16:57:00 +0000

SOUTH AFRICA'S BEST PLAYER: Keagan Dolly

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior was born on February 5, 1992. He has won 75 international caps for Brazil and scored 50 goals for his country.

Keagan Larenzo Dolly was born on January 22, 1993. He has played 4 times for South Africa and scored two memorable goals against Gambia last year.

Neymar Jnr, born in Mori Das Cruzes near Sao Paulo, played for Santos in his home nation until the age of 21 when he finally accepted Barcelona’s advances.

Dolly, born in Westbury near Johannesburg, played for Ajax Cape Town before moving to Mamelodi Sundowns. Nearly 24 (the same age as Neymar), he was transferred for a reported R6m, has had offers of R10m from Europe, and now finds himself unable to move overseas.

Like Neymar before he left Brazil, Dolly has won just about everything domestically. League, both cups and this season, the African Champions League.

The crowning glory came just last week when Keagan was named in the CAF Africa XI ahead of Arsenal’s uber talented Alex Iwobi, who was named as a substitute.

Curiously, though his €750,000 buy-out clause has been met by both French club Montpellier and Greek giants Olympiacos, Dolly remains in South Africa with his coach Pitso Mosimane - last week voted Africa’s Coach of the year - saying “Keagan could do with another season in the PSL.”

In the same breath, Mosimane admits: “If Dolly gets the chance to go overseas, then he must go.”

All very confusing for Dolly, who should have won at least 30 Bafana Bafana caps in his short career, not to mention a move to Europe three years ago, if South African football REALLY wanted local youngsters to thrive internationally.

But a combination of the now-defunct Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba’s bizarre national selection policies and the PSL’s Dispute Resolution Chamber are denying Dolly the chance to be South Africa’s Neymar.

After his debut against Sudan in 2014, Mashaba chose to leave Dolly behind until close to the end of his disastrous AFCON 2017 qualification failure. The DRC? They chose to allow Sundowns to change the buy-out clause on the contract he signed in 2015 - and new deal the PSL insisted on as there were “registration problems” when Dolly went back to his old club Ajax Cape Town on loan.

The DRC chose to accept Sundowns claim that they had “made a mistake” with the buy-out clause in Dolly’s new contract, effectively rendering all future PSL contracts disputable. A lamentable decision.

Has any other business EVER been allowed to claim they “blundered” on a signed contract? What would Masanadawana’s Champions League rivals think if they thought Dolly’s contract was not worth the paper it was written on?

In fact, Sundowns altered the eight sentences of the buy-out clause NINE times before Dolly was brought in - without his representatives - to sign a new five-year deal in August 2015. Sundowns were aware of every word in the new contract, they demanded it. They got it.

The old contract demanded a £1.5m buy-out, which is now the fee which will have to be met by and new suitors following Dolly’s Africa XI selection.

Effectively his value - thanks to an incredible DRC decision - has risen from R10m to R22m which would be a modern South African record equal to the £1.5m record paid by Bournemouth for Malmo’s Tokelo Rantie three years ago. And we all know how that ended.

With South Africa languishing at 60 in the FIFA rankings, no English club would approach that figure - especially with Dolly failing to play anywhere near the required 80 percent of South Africa’s competitive fixtures over the past two years. A work permit is out of the question for any South African right now. At any price.

Many said Neymar’s move to Europe came a little late at 20. Dolly is nearly 24. And unless somebody looks long and hard at the PSL’s DRC - who also found against Siboniso Pa Gaxa when Kaizer Chiefs had actually tweeted about his "until 2018" contract - South Africa’s brightest star is unlikely to achieve is full potential.

What next? An appeal to SAFA and even the international Court of Arbitration for Sport. Expensive. Disruptive. Not recommended.

So here’s the verdict from one who is not frightened to speak out against corruption and injustice: the DRC are not a fair, objective body fit to judge on player contracts.

With the same people representing Kaizer Chiefs and Sundowns as well as the PSL against players, justice is currently unavailable. The DRC is, as we like to say in South Africa, “captured”.

Dolly has won all he is likely to win at Sundowns. Even if he goes overseas, the new South African coach, if he’s sensible and not guided by sinister forces like Mashaba, will have no choice but to pick South Africa’s brightest “young” talent (some would consider 24 middle-aged in football terms).

Dolly has nothing to lose. He has already had to foot a mammoth R200,000 legal bill in an unsuccessful attempt to set himself free. Remarkable that, given it was Sundowns who admitted to making the contractual “error”.

With at least two fresh bids on the table following the DRC’s bizarre decision, my advice Keagan? Go to Greece, France or wherever the footballing road takes you. South Africa doesn’t have a single player (barring the veteran Steven Pienaar at Sunderland) in any of the big leagues.

That hasn’t happened for years. It’s time for Keagan Dolly to make the break. Before it’s too late.

South Africa's quest for leadership: all eyes on Milton "Micho" Sredojevic after AFCON 2017

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 01 Jan 2017 15:09:00 +0000

CRANES DRIVER: Milutin "Micho" Sredojevic

SOUTH AFRICANS are suffering a football-free void until February 7 but while we wait for the domestic game to restart... keep an eye on Uganda.

Milutin Sredojević, also known as MICHO, is the 47-year-old Serbian who could be on the verge of joining Bafana Bafana after AFCON 2017.

He’s the bloke who got Uganda’s Cranes to the AFCON in Gabon which starts on January 14. While our blessed Bafana under Ephraim Mashaba couldn’t even get close, Micho somehow got Uganda to the final stages for the first time since they finished second in 1978.

With South Africa’s PSL on extended vacation until next month, all eyes will be on the 2017 African Nations Cup, with our neighbours Zimbabwe also making the cut and Cote D’Ivoire attempting to defend the title they won in Equatorial Guinea two years ago.

With Uganda’s FA struggling for cash - they don’t even have a kit sponsor - there has been talk of their precious Serbian coach failing to get the cash he was promised for getting the nation to Gabon.

With Ghana (17 Jan), Egypt (21 Jan) and Mali (Jan 25) in their uncompromising group at Afcon, few expect Micho’s men to progress to the latter stages. In qualifying, their Group D saw Uganda finish with four wins, a draw and a defeat to emerge behind Burkina Faso but ahead of Botswana and the Comoros as one of two best runners-up.

With a friendly against Tunisia away lined up for January 4, Micho is currently trying to select his best 23 for Gabon, before a warm-up tournament against Ivory Coast and Slovakia in the UAE.

But it’s what happens AFTER their first AFCON in 38 years we South Africans should be concerned about.

Weeks ago, when Bafana Bafana drew their final AFCON 2017 qualifier with Mauritania to finish third in their group, I was told SAFA president Danny Jordaan, having lost the NMB mayoral race against the DA’s Athol Trollop, had finally realised the state of South Africa’s national team during his absence.

Two weeks later, talks with Micho had - allegedly - taken place. I was told Bafana Bafana incumbent Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba had too much political support to be summarily fired for an awful AFCON performance which featured players not good enough to play for their club sides..

Instead, Shaky was told he HAD to get four points from his first two World Cup 2018 qualifiers against Burkina Faso and Africa’s best side Senegal.

Incredibly, after an away draw which they deserved to win, South Africa beat Senegal at home - on the back of a dodgy penalty from Ghanaian referee Jonthan Lamptey, who was subsequently banned for three months - and Shaky appeared to be safe.

But no, Jordaan - who told BBC Africa a few weeks before that Mashaba “had to go, the outcry is too great” - then reacted to Mashaba’s understandable glee by firing our national head coach.

True, Mashaba wagged his finger at Jordaan and accused him of being “unsupportive” in front of several witnesses, but to fire Shaky after beating Senegal was distinctly dodgy. Suspension was followed by a kangaroo court and termination.

Why? Because Micho had been lined up by Jordaan, just as Carlos Queiroz had been told he had the job after Gordon Igesund but was rejected due to his required salary.

Just 24 hours before the guillotine fell on Mashaba’s neck, I’m told Dr Irvin Khoza - the PSL chairman who REALLY runs South African football - decided Micho would be a good replacement for caretaker coach Augusto Palacios at his own club, Orlando Pirates.

Which leaves us in an interesting position before Bafana resume their World Cup qualification process against Cape Verde Islands in August.

I’m told Khoza, who put Micho in charge at Orlando with mixed fortunes in 2006, was the man who initially made contact with the Uganda coach two months ago. The compromise position: Mashaba (who has never proved himself at club level) could go to Pirates, who currently languish in an unacceptable TENTH in the PSL, allowing Micho to take the Bafana job.

The man himself insists he is focused on Uganda, he says: “Whatever you are hearing, I am loyal to Uganda. My contract expires in 2018 but the bags of any coach are always half packed.

“I believe you have a top class team in South Africa. I admire good football and I believe you have a very, very good team. In life you never know.”

Whatever happens, Micho is contracted to Uganda until 2018. But if Uganda get hammered at AFCON, which is a distinct possibility, he’ll be sacked and available.

And Bafana, with a useful 4 points from their two World Cup qualifiers, may be too good to turn down.

When MICHO was last at Orlando Pirates, he complained about discipline problems HERE: http://www.iol.co.za/capeargus/sport/all-is-not-well-at-pirates-says-sredojevic-561513

AN UPLIFTING CHRISTMAS TALE: the Mahlambi brothers show giving has no limits

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 18 Dec 2016 13:34:00 +0000

OUT FOR TEN MONTHS: Phakamani Mahlambi

IT'S Christmas. The time for giving. But what do you do when your little brother needs... a sparkling new hamstring?

Bidvest Wits teenager Phakamani exploded on our screens this time last season, scoring goals for fun and appearing to be, for all the hype, akin to our own Cristiano Ronaldo. Five goals and two assists in half a season. Incredible.

What was it Gavin Hunt said? “Phaks could beat you in a telephone box. He’s a real talent. He’s as good as Benni McCarthy at 18.”

But just when the Rio 2016 Olympics were beckoning, Mahlambi was struck down by a serious hamstring injury. No, not your everyday twang of the hammie, a serous rupture of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament against now-relegated AmaTuks on February 19.

The golden youngster slipped off our radar. For nearly ten months, all we heard was “needs surgery”, “long-term injury”, “extensive rehabilitation”… there was even talk of a career prematurely ended.

Though he still won the club’s Young Player of the Season award, it appeared another shooting star had fallen from the roof of the planetarium next to Wits University’s Milpark Stadium.

But no. On Saturday, against the luckless Free State Stars who are unlikely to feature in any pantheon of celestial objects soon, the star was reborn.

Coach Gavin Hunt, after seeing his side go second in the PSL with a 3-1 win, said: “I've seen Phakamani struggling with this injury every day for nearly ten months months. That’s a long time for a youngster to be out.

“The doctors said I shouldn’t play him. The physios said he wasn’t ready. But I thought bugger it, he must play tonight"

The rest is history. Phakamani, still just 19, marked his comeback with two goals. In one appearance he scored more than any Kaizer Chiefs striker this season.

The predictable Man of the Match award was claimed and the true Christmas Tale was finally revealed.

Phakamani confirmed what we first heard in June. He was back - with his brother’s hamstring replacing the one he tore. An incredible tale of sacrifice and family togetherness.

Mahlambi immediately summoned his brother and gave him the Man of the Match Trophy, saying: “They wanted to take something from a tendon to repair the hamstring.

“But that might have slowed my pace. Then my brother Mthobisi said 'No, take mine'. He is my hero, my everything.

"Today, both my parents are unemployed, half my salary goes to my family and I'm helping to build them a new home.”

The generous donor Mthobisi stepped up to the microphone with his brother’s silverware: “I’d like to thank my brother, the management, my family, everyone.

“We share blood, we share everything, it's such a great moment for me. I don't worry much about my hamstring. It's from my heart”

It’s been a long half-season. Banana Bafana failed to reach AFCON 2017 and Shakes Mashaba is suspended. Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates are struggling in mid-table. Mamelodi Sundowns were crowned champions of Africa but lost badly twice at the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan.

The Mahlambi brothers give us a brief festive opportunity to celebrate the season of giving and forgiving. Forget the bitching about referees, knife-wielding thugs at Kaizer Chiefs games and falling attendances.

Soon, the PSL will break for Christmas. And they’ll stay away (barring late fixtures changes) until deep in to February.

Which should give us all a chance to reflect on the the elder Mahlambi, the brother who gave up a hamstring for the sake of his family. Happy Christmas!

IT'S THE ENDO THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT: Sundowns dreams shot down in Japan

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 13:07:00 +0000

AT FAULT: Mamelodi Sundowns Ugandan
goalkeeper Denis Onyango

FOR a delirious 45 minutes on Saturday, KaboYellow fans had every right to believe they were headed to a glorious final against mighty Real Madrid at the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan. Then came 45 minutes of heartbreak, a second half exposing all that is wrong with South Africa football.

The first half at the Suita City stadium was a dream. Percy Tau was rampant, Khama Billiat had a couple of chances - one from all of four yards on the slide - and Pitso Mosimane looked secure in his Champions of Africa castle with the big back door.

Hitoshi Sogahata was the villain of the piece for Sundowns, who had NINE shots to Kashima’s NIL in those fantastic first 45 minutes. Bizarrely, FIFA had captioned the scoreline “ZSC” for Masandawana (obviously they thought Egyptians Zamalek had made it!) and didn’t correct in to “SUN” until the 2nd half… and by then, the fantasy was fading.

Sogahata, who has played all his life at the Antlers, is a mature 37, he’s played four times for Japan since 1998 but 462 times for his club. Three great saves kept Sundowns goalless, and then there was THAT miss from the usually lethal Zimbabwean Billiat, who put Tau’s excellent cross wide from inside the small box.

MISTAKE! Sundowns were dubbed "ZSC"
throughout the first half by FIFA

At half-time, optimism was sweeping the nation. With the game on SABC thanks to StarSat’s last-minute climb-down on exclusive coverage, the social networks were buzzing. Pitso was a genius. Tau was a lion, Dolly was more popular than Barbie. Onyango hadn't been tested in goal.

But from the first touch of the second half, the Antlers showed the value of a good team talk, and a touch of tactical acumen.

With their wing-backs tucking in, the midfield was reclaimed by the Japanese, Pitso might have seen it before me but he didn’t react. Not until THE ENDO OF THE WORLD, with Yasushi Endo picking up a Mu Kawasaki cross and beating Sundowns’ keeper Denis Onyango.

When I say it beat him, it wasn’t a pretty sight. The Uganda player of the year and PSL goalkeeper of the season made a hash of the close-range shot, it wriggled out from underneath his writhing body and was actually put in by his own hand/head reflex movement.

Shocking, particularly with Sogahata producing a near-perfect 90 minutes at the other end.

CORRECTED! But Sundowns went in to
a serious decline in the second half

But there was worse to come. Pitso finally threw on Zwane, but it was already too late. Then came Liberian striker Antoine Laffour when Sundowns appeared to finally realise they had to score to survive.

But there was no great urgency. No radical change of shape. The Antlers had Sundowns by the horns. In a dramatic reverse of the first half, Sundowns barely mustered a threat on goal.

And when Kanazaki added a goal of his own with the Downs defense all over the place, the sinking feeling became titanic. All the shortcomings of South African football had been ruthlessly exposed. Poor finishing, late changes, lack of fitness, tired defending and we’ll have to say it again POOR FINISHING.

We got the usual afterwards from Pitso Mosimane, whose PSL and African champions are starting to develop a habit of inconsistency in recent weeks.

Clearly unhappy, the post-match interview was mercifully short: “We played very well against a very good team. Obviously you could see our finishing was not very good in the first half. They took their chances and we didn’t.

“Disappointed? What do you mean? It’s football. We are professionals. For us it’s a very good learning curve. They passed very well.

“We are learning, we did well, we just couldn’t finish.”

And captain Hlompho Kekana, who simply disappeared in the second half, basically respected his coach: “If we’d taken one of the chances we’d created, the game would've changed. We must take lesson out of this game.”

Lessons? Learning curves? No. The FIFA Club World Cup doesn’t come along regularly for South African football. We needed clinical finishing, decisive substitutions, a solid goalkeeper.

But hey, at least they got to Japan. They play Korea's Jeonbuk on Wednesday morning in a 5th/6th play-off game that could earn the players plenty to add to their African Champions League bonus.

FIFA are offering $1.5m for fifth and $1m for sixth. So the difference is $500,000. R7.5m. Nearly as much as Cape Town City FC won for their Telkom KO victory against SuperSport United on Saturday.

The Antlers go on to play Nacional from Colombia, with Real Madrid likely to be their final opponents. Sundowns didn’t even get close to Cristiano Ronaldo. It's enough to make a weepy nation howl.

THE LITTLE LION: Percy Tau heads to Japan on top of the world

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 16:51:00 +0000

CHAMPIONS OF AFRICA: Percy Tau (front right) can't quite believe it!

THE PERCY TAU PHENOMENON IS REAL. There was a time, not a year ago, when the only thing the little lion at Mamelodi Sundowns had in common with Lionel Messi was his diminutive stature.

But with Leonardo Castro suffering that long-term ankle injury, Tau returned to the regular starting line-up during Pitso Mosimane’s fabulous “back-door” African Champions League triumph and he has NEVER looked back.

He was the little lad sitting looking bemused during the celebrations in Egypt after KaboYellow were crowned continental kings. He no longer had to bring a cushion to matches for a long stint on the bench. He was a major part of a phenomenal success.

It was all too much for the 22-year-old who only got his matriculation certificate last year.

Vital goals in Africa have been followed by great goals in domestic competition. His second goal on Saturday against Free State Stars was a thing over wonder, nearly as spectacular as THAT last-gasp overhead equaliser from Baroka’s Oscarine Masuluke against Orlando Pirates.

Tau picked up the ball near the halfway line, cut a swathe through the falling Stars defence and put it through the legs of a defender and the goalkeeper to make it 4-1 to Sundowns on a day of serious confidence-building.

On Monday, Sundowns flew off to Japan for the FIFA Club World Cup with their heads held high. The shock defeat against Cape Town City on Wednesday was forgotten. Sundowns can go top of the PSL if they win all their games in hand.

Real Madrid and the rest of the world’s continental champions await them in Japan but Percy has an old head on those young shoulders. After yet another Man of the Match award, he said: “We did well, I just try to do what I know. The focus is on my football, nothing else.

”Yes, I do miss chances, but I’m happy to score two today.”

Coach Mosimane is nearly breathless in his praise: “Our boys, sometimes they can be naughty. We could have scored more. Percy at the moment is unbelievable. He’s scoring goals, and he’s growing, growing all the time.”

With Castro back in the starting eleven for the first time, Tau maintains his spot next to the CBD as the team heads for Japan. It gives Sundowns a lovely, free-running spirit to have Castro, Khama Billiat and Keagan Dolly up there with Tau.

Up to this point, general consensus indicated Tau, an academy product born in what was once known as Witbank, was way behind Dolly in the array of young South Africans who could break in to the top five leagues in Europe.

For years I questioned Dolly’s exclusion from the Bafana Bafana senior set-up. The same can be said for Tau, who never caught Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba’s agent-jaundiced eye with the national squad.

But with Dolly’s road to Olympiacos in Greece blocked by stubborn Sundowns officials insisting the R10m buy-out clause in his contract was “a mistake” it could be Tau, “lion” in English, will be the man to poach in Japan.

He has the talent. He has the personality. He has the touch. South Africa longs for a player other than Sunderland’s elderly Steve Pienaar playing in Europe’s “Big Five” leagues. For our young lion Percy Tau, as Sundowns fans say, the Sky is the Limit!

THE ASTONISHING RESURRECTION OF CAPE TOWN CITY FC: yes, it's a modern day miracle

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 26 Nov 2016 17:55:00 +0000

TRAIL BLAZER: Eric Tinkler

RESURRECTION can be a tricky business. The last documented example was some bloke called Lazarus over 2000 years ago. And you wouldn’t expect him to get up and out-run all the healthy disciples gathered for his miraculous comeback would you?

But that’s exactly what Cape Town City have done. With some gusto. After opening their second coming with a 2-0 win over Polokwane City on August 23, born-again City beat a side called Kaizer Chiefs three days later.

Last month they beat African champions Mamelodi Sundowns amid a current run of SEVEN consecutive wins that has seen them top the PSL twice and reach the Telkom KO final. Saturday’s thumping 4-1 thrashing of Free State Stars in the TKO semi-final was no shock, it was simply further evidence of an astonishing rebirth.

John Comitis, the former Ajax Cape Town chairman who just last week fell off the PSL executive gravy train, appears to have successfully breathed life back in to the long dead football club known as Cape Town City.

The giants of the old all-white NFL, City won titles in 1973 and 1976, before they were officially buried after liquidation in 1979. African Warriors purchased the lifeless cadaver. There was no pulse, the club was six feet under, pushing up daisies.

But then along comes Comitis and, as I revealed two weeks before the face, the official unveiling decades after the faux cremation: Cape Town City FC were given a second life for a reported fee of R50m.

The brief five months since that announcement on June 29 have been eventful. Remember, Comitis did a deal with the Morfou brothers at Mpumalanga Black Aces to move their franchise 1,538km south.

Fourteen players made the journey. The PSL top scorer Collins Mbesuma was left behind. So was the much-vaunted junior link with Manchester City. And the fans from eMalahleni to Mbombela? Ignored.

It was a deal which broke FIFA rules, a deal which nearly led to Free State Stars being replaced in the PSL by twice-relegated Moroka Swallows. A deal which should NEVER have happened.

But Comitis is nothing if not determined to win a personal war against his old club Ajax Cape Town. He let Muhsin Ertugral, the Turkish coach who lifted Aces to a record fourth place last season, go to Orlando Pirates. In return, he picked up the man Irvin Khoza didn’t want to fire, Eric Tinkler as a sweetener.

With former Pirates assistant Craig Rosslee working behind the scenes, Tinkler added a few foreigners, adopted the old blue-and-gold City colours and somehow, after being “10 players short” a few weeks before the season started, he put out a side good enough to top the PSL and reach the TKO final before the club had got halfway to their first birthday.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly how Tinkler has managed this. Lebogang Manyama was made captain after seven months of injury, Shu-Aib Walters is a vastly under-rated goalkeeper, Aubrey Ngoma, the former Orlando Pirates dynamo, picks up Man of the Match awards like confetti. Lehlohonolo Majoro, unwanted inland, made his way down the N1 to contribute a few goals.

Not a bad collection of journeymen. But as Tinkler said on Saturday, that's not the secret: “These players work for each other. That’s all a coach can ask for. I’m happy for them. That’s how it works here. This is an opportunity to make history.”

The man vilified for finishing seventh in the PSL and reaching the African Confederations Cup knows his stuff. He'll trouble Stuart Baxter in the TKO final against SuperSport United. I defended him all last season. He was a nugget on the field, and he’s proving just as tough on the bench in the Mother City.

Steve's looking increasingly Shaky: Kaizer Chiefs coach Komphela needs less words, more wins

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 19 Nov 2016 19:18:00 +0000

TROUBLED TIMES: Steve Komphela and Orlando
Pirates coach Muhsin Ertugral, who has already fallen

THE demise of Kaizer Chiefs as THE footballing force in South Africa is just slow enough to escape labels like “crisis” and “disaster”. But it’s not far off.

Yes, we should be more worried about our national side. Banana Bafana beat Senegal, only for coach Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba to find himself suspended for the friendly 1-1 draw against Mozambique for “unacceptable behaviour” (finger wagging, accusing Danny Jordaan of "not supporting me" etc).

HELP REQUIRED: How most listen to Steve
Komphela's post-match interviews

I am reliably informed Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic will leave Uganda, where the local FA are struggling to pay his salary, to take over South Africa after AFCON 2017 in Gabon next February.

Shaky will fight for his job. Micho may be persuaded to go elsewhere. But SAFA have 10 months to wait before they resume World Cup qualifying action against the Cape Verde Islands in August 2017. Kaizer Chiefs, apparently supported by 15 million South Africans (that number is falling fast) have no such luxury.

They are back in action on Wednesday night against their former coach Stuart Baxter’s SuperSport United at what may just be a near-deserted FNB Stadium.

There were plenty of fans for their clash at Loftus Versveld against Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday. So many it forced a 15 minute delay to the 3pm kick off. But it looked suspiciously like Masandawana’s KaboYellow were almost equal in numbers with the mighty AmaKhosi.

On the field, Sundowns have been ahead of Kaizer Chiefs for some time… probably since the day Baxter, who won the title twice in three years, decided to leave Bobby Motaung’s tortured regime weeks after his second championship.

Stuart told me he would leave if Bobbytrap, last week revealed in the Sunday World to have lost millions in a shopping centre deal, wouldn’t let him play a role in transfer dealings.

Of course Bobby, without a CV but in charge of the family business with his dad getting doddery, denied him that. And his replacement Steve Komphela has been suffering ever since.

Last season, under the sophisticated eye of Komphela, Chiefs finished fifth in the PSL after Motaung decided not to give PSL player of the year Tefu Mashamaite and top scorer Mandla Masango pay increases.

This season Bobby went a step further, publicly announcing a list of 20 players he wanted to get rid of, including R5m-a-year Siyanda Xulu and other players still under contract.

There were whispers of Komphela being not entirely happy. Especially when Motaung, having promised to lash out R50m on replacements, only spent about R5m on a bunch of free signings, two Chicken Inn Zimbabweans and Lewis Macha, a young Zambia playing in Mozambique.

I predicted disaster but Komphela confounded my pessimism with a strong start. While Mamelodi Sundowns - off winning the African Champions League - and BidvestWits fell behind in the fixture list, Chiefs made a cheeky trip to the top of the PSL.

But in truth, it was never going to last. Komphela has fiddled with his forwards, messed with his midfield and strewn his strikers all over the place.

His once-fantastic post-match talks have become mundane. Sometimes he’ll occasionally grasp for a phrase along the lines of “statistics are like a bikini, they don’t cover everything” but in truth we have seen him struck down by the pressure of running a big club having NEVER won a trophy in his career.

On Saturday, Sundowns were just too good for his bargain-basement squad. Chiefs scored a fortunate opener from what was clearly a Rama Mphahlele cross. Tebogo Langerman immediately hit back with an equaliser and Sbu Vilakazi - who always said he wanted to go to Chiefs but they refused to make a decent offer to Wits - produced a gloriously ironic winner.

Komphela produced the usual dross after the game, talking about concentration and improvement, but in truth referee Daniel Bennett allowed them to escape a clear Percy Tau penalty and Itumeleng Khune made a couple of good saves to keep the scoreline sensible.

And for the first time in 18 mediocre months, Komphela looks seriously vulnerable. Midway through the second half, he threw on injury-plagued free signing Keagan Buchanan as Chiefs searched for a winner. But instead of taking off defensive midfielder Willard Katsande, who wasn’t having his finest afternoon, he benched Siphiwe Tshabalala, who can always be relied on for a good delivery or a cunning free-kick.

That was the shaky substitution of a troubled coach. A defensive move when his side were crying out for attacking inspiration.

Komphela sent lofty defenders Tower Mathoho and Rama forward late on in an attempt to force an equaliser. But by then 87 minutes had been played. On the social networks, resignation had already set in. Another defeat, another disappointment.

Shakes Mashaba may be in difficulty with the national job. But I suspect Komphela is rapidly heading for the same fate. Big jobs demand big personalities. People who have won major silverware. Neither man measures up.

UTTERLY BAFANAS: Mashaba suspended, Rubber Doll in charge... but it won't end there for South African football

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 05:48:00 +0000

SUSPENDED: Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba

Bafana Bafana Head Coach Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba will not join the team on their trip to Mozambique as the Association has deemed it necessary to employ disciplinary measures after a regrettable incident at Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday, 12 November 2016.

Assistant Coach Owen da Gama will take charge of the team in the above-mentioned international friendly match against Mozambique on Tuesday, 15 November 2016 in Maputo.

As is our custom in matters such as these, the Association will not be making any further comments on this matter out of respect for the dignity of the Head Coach and the Association and the legally privileged nature of such proceedings.

This short statement from SAFA on Sunday, less than 24 hours after South Africa’s head coach Ephraim Mashaba had engineered a morale-boosting 2-1 win over mighty Senegal, came as a bit of a shock to football fans - and his Bafana Bafana team, who left for Mozambique for Tuesday night’s friendly in Maputo.

But in truth, the tide had been rising against Shaky ever since his abject failure to qualify for AFCON 2017. The battle raging within the walls of SAFA House over Mashaba’s future will not end soon.

Flash back to early September: After the 1-1 draw against Mauritania, a result which left South Africa in third place behind Group M qualifiers Cameroon, Danny Jordaan famously said: “This cannot be the beginning, this must be the end” and we waited, endlessly, for the failed Mayor of Port Elizabeth to swing his rusty axe.

Then came the BBC Africa interview with Nigerian-based Osasu Obayiuwana which included the immortal line from Jordaan: “Mashaba has to go, the uproar is too much.” SAFA head of communications rushed to Mashaba's defence, insisting nothing of the sort had been said. He was wrong.

Somehow, Mashaba survived to lead Bafana to their opening World Cup Group D qualifier in Burkina Faso. A farcical game, featuring a penalty-that-never-was against South Africa, ended in a 1-1 draw.

For months, I had been told SAFA’s warring factions had agreed a compromise solution: If Mashaba could get four points from his opening two games on the Road to Russia 2018, he would survive. Otherwise: OUT.

Then came Saturday’s farce. After 40mins under the cosh, Ghanaian referee Joseph Lamptey awarded another penalty-that-never was when Eleazar Rodger’s dive-header quite clearly hit Senegal defender Idrissa Gueye on the thigh.

Captain Tyson Hlatshwayo stuck the spot kick away and Thulani Serero added a second goal before the interval to give South Africa a deeply undeserved 2-0 lead. Senegal fought back to 2-1 but somehow Bafana survived to the final whistle to claim all three points.

Mashaba’s response was predictable… but understandable. He raved about the “football intelligence” of his players and ended by telling the SABC (he refused to speak to SuperSport): "Let me say to you, I've got to celebrate this win. It’s my second lease of life in football. I was already buried. The media had bought a casket for me. We weren't given a chance.”

That might have been enough to get Mashaba through the next 10 months - Bafana’s next World Cup qualifier isn’t until August 28 next year against Cape Verde - but Mashaba was simply unable to contain his glee.

With SAFA officials - and Mamelodi Sundowns billionaire chairman Patrice Motsepe - trying to offer their congratulations, months of fear and anxiety surfaced. Mashaba felt the need to ram his dubious victory down the throats of all present, including Jordaan and his CEO Denis Mumble.

Ever since Jordaan’s defeat in the mayoral race in Nelson Mandela Bay, Jordaan has been angling to get rid of Mashaba, if only to re-stamp his authority on the national football association. Shakes complained - vehemently and publicly - about Jordaan's "lack of support". He embarrassed his bosses. Though many would feel there was justification.

This was his excuse. Then came the press statement. And Bafana left for Maputo without their mentor, Rubber Doll Owen da Gama found himself thrust to the front of the queue.

Suspension for wagging a finger. Cut short in his prime for daring to have the last word. Mashaba will not go quietly. He earns millions as National Head Coach and many other avenues of income have opened up since he took over from Gordon Igesund.

HAPPIER TIMES: Mashaba and Jordaan, 2014

SAFA said yesterday: “Coach Mashaba has asked that we convey to the NEC, and the president of the Association, in particular, his sincerest apologies if he has offended anyone and he unreservedly asked for forgiveness for Saturday’s actions.”

That won't be enough. The longer-suffering SAFA media men (all Mashaba disciples) cannot end this dispute so easily. Expect another abject (but not quite genuine) apology. Expect legal threats. Expect weeks of turmoil around our national football team once more.

The only bright side is that SAFA have plenty of time to either re-instate Mashaba or appoint a replacement before Group D grinds back in to action with Bafana behind Burkina Faso on goal difference and Senegal lurking.

The question is: will Mashaba’s petty suspension shatter SAFA House or unite them? The victory over Senegal - no matter how it was achieved - has put Bafana in pole position in the Race for Russia.

We can’t afford a technical failure. Don’t think for a moment Jordaan, as president, will have the final say. His stock has fallen both in football and politics. This may be a battle Mashaba will win, if he plays his cards right.

SENEGAL PAY THE PENALTY! Like a well-oiled machine, Bafana are firmly on the road to Russia

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 12 Nov 2016 15:34:00 +0000

OUTRAGEOUS: Senegal players - and officials - were furious
when referee Joseph Lamptey gave handball for THIS, when
Idrissa Gana Gueye was clearly hit on the thigh

THE defining moment of Bafana Bafana’s unexpected 2-0 win over the mighty Lions of Senegal on Saturday is not one to remember with any great pride.

It came after a tough 40 minutes for South Africa against a side packed with European stars on a muggy Polokwane afternoon. Eleazar Rodgers, who battled gamely throughout, dive-headed goalwards and quite clearly hit Senegal defender Idrissa Gueye on the thigh.

But this is where referee Joseph Lamptey and his mates earned that Moment of the Match award. With not a single appeal from Bafana, Lamptey pointed to the spot, awarding a quite unwarranted penalty to the home team. Replays show it went nowhere near that bandaged hand.

Even Mark Gleeson, the SuperSport commentator I grew up with in Clubview a million years ago, said: “Now that’s a hometown decision” before captain Tyson Hlatshwayo hit a tame penalty past Diallo, who got a hand to it.

Seconds later, with Senegal’s galaxy of EuroStars still stunned, Thulani Serero, Ajax Amsterdam’s non-playing midfielder, ran on to the ball as it left the box and the ball wriggled in to the corner.

After 40 minutes of admiring Senegal’s superior touch and distribution, Shakes Mashaba found himself with a 2-0 lead and a view of years of riches still to come. Not bad for a man who is constantly chided by SAFA president Danny Jordaan.

In direct defiance of his bosses (or some of them) Mashaba threw on Bradley Grobler, the 28-year-old SuperSport United striker in the second half, ignoring the man SAFA asked to come to South Africa for the first time in his life, Dutch-born Lars Veldwijk.

The 24-year-old, whose dad left South Africa aged 14, languished on the bench throughout, though his height - at 6ft 5in, just an inch smaller than our loftiest Tower Mathoho - might have helped.

Senegal fought back with substitute Ndoye scoring after a lengthy goal-mouth scramble featuring two goal-line blocks from Itumeleng Khune.

We should, we must, celebrate a victory over Senegal, now the second best side in Africa. Mashaba has us at 13 on the continent, these were three unexpected points, a real boost for the national squad after Mamelodi Sundowns equally unexpected African Champions League triumph.

Tiyani Mabunda, a surprise starter after his late call for the injured Dean Furman, said: "It wasn't easy in this game. I got a knock. It's nothing compared to what we've done for the nation.

"If this is what it takes to make the nation proud, I'm willing to go for it. The fans came out, they're signing gave us a push."

Mashaba, with his side now top of the qualifying group, said: "There's nothing else one can say. We are celebrating, we needed this win. Fans brought positive energy to the team. We should have scored four goals in this game if it was our lucky day.

"The two goals made life easy for us. They didn't expect us to score goals against them. I think we did very well.

"We always say to the boys, second half it's dangerous. Don't defend too deep. Senegal are too big, our back four did very well, Mathoho, Rivaldo.

"What about the match intelligence of the players individually? They did it. You don't need to be throwing the ball away. Fatigue took its toll. They were right on it, I'm telling you.

"This is one of the most hectic games they've played in their life."

He finished with: "Let me say to you, I've got to celebrate this win. My second lease of life. I was already buried. The media had bought a casket for me. We weren't given a chance."

All true of course. But somehow, it does’t feel right. The penalty, and several other decisions, appeared to go against the visitors. Senegal were clearly a technically superior side though, as South Africans know only too well, the well-paid foreign stars aren’t too good in such troubled situations.

We ended with Khune keeping Senegal out behind a shaky defence and going down injured as per the usual recipe. But the 2-1 lead stood until the final whistle.

Aliou Diouf, the Senegal coach, spent most of the game in a state of suspended disbelief, though Bafana fans may point to the opening game in Burkina Faso as another example of African refereeing at its finest.

My thoughts went back to that penalty-peppered 5-0 pre-World Cup win over Guatemala at the same Peter Mokabe ground in 2010. I said it at the time and it was confirmed later: match fixing, though the same people still run SAFA. Is it fair? Should we celebrate such an obvious case of dodgy refereeing?

Guess we have to. It won’t change. CAF can’t deal with lasers and flates, so referees and linesmen aren’t going to take any flak.

So congratulations Bafana Bafana. Good luck in Cape Verde. And Senegal. Months away (August 28 next year), but you may need it.

South Africa topped the group briefly but after Burkina Faso's 2-0 win over Cape Verde, here's Group D as it stands:

Burkina Faso 2 4
South Africa 2 4
Senegal 2 3 Cape Verde 2 0

MASHABA STANDS AT THE CROSS-ROADS: South Africa v Senegal will make or break Shaky

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 07 Nov 2016 18:46:00 +0000

IN HIS FATHER'S FOOTSTEPS:
Lars Veldwijk, born in Holland,
sets foot in South Africa for the
first time today before joining
Dean Furman and Bafana Bafana
for Saturday's World Cup clash
against Senegal in Polokwane

DANNY JORDAAN and his national coach Ephraim Mashaba stand at a cross-roads on Saturday night. When Bafana Bafana face Senegal in Polokwane, one sign-post will read “Vision 2022 Avenue”, the other simply “Exit Road”.

It is, quite simply, Mashaba's glorious chance for redemption. Win, and be a hero. Lose (or draw) and Shaky is GONE.

Shakes, who has been shaky for sometime now, has long ignored the 86-page South African Technical master plan put forward by newly elected SAFA president Jordaan in October 2013. But for much of that time, it didn’t matter: Mayor Jordaan was off trying to save Nelson Mandela Bay for his beloved ANC.

During his lengthy absence from the hot-seat at SAFA House Jordaan famously said football was “just a hobby” and that he had “never earned a penny” from the job, despite evidence of an R80,000 honorarium just last year.

But once Jordaan had seen a man called Athol usurp him in the Eastern Cape, he came back with a bang, carrying the weighty Vision 2022 guide-lines like stone tablets from his political burning bush.

Having said “this cannot be the beginning it must be the end” after a final humiliating draw against Mauritania in AFCON 2017 Group M and having told BBC Africa’s correspondent “Mashaba cannot go on, the outcry is too great”, Jordaan finally made his Shaky frustrations clear on October 13.

And yes, the old Vision 2022 was at the heart of it. No matter than Mashaba continues to pick players who are not good enough for their club teams. Or that he got his son Thabo, a restaurant owner, to answer questions at a SAFA press confernce.

It was the dreaded Vision 2022 on the mind of Jordaan. He explained that Mashaba, after two years at the helm of South African football, had not fulfilled two of the major requirements of our nation’s footballing master-plan.

1 Mashaba was asked to provide a dossier on all South Africa’s foreign stars. Travel was required, and extensive research. Jordaan fumed: “We have a lot of overseas-based South African players that we don’t know much about and they are playing good football for their respective teams.”

2 Shaky was required to produce 24 names suitable for Qatar in 2022. This would consist of 8 players aged Under 17, Under 20 and Under 23. Again no progress: “He knows I want that list but I have not received it.”

Jordaan fumes: “This is what I’ve asked for and until today neither have been delivered. I asked him to give me a pool of players that we need to work on for our Vision 2022. The second plan was for him to go and assess players who are playing overseas.

“Neither of these programmes have landed on my desk yet, and I asked for them a long time ago.

“I believe these programmes are key elements to take Banana forward. I still want them and he knows it. If this doesn’t happen, I cannot be responsible for what happens.”

Typically, there was no response for Mashaba, other than to pick another squad laced with players who will be approaching 40 when the 2022 World Cup comes around.

While Kamolhelo Mokotjo at FC Twente has just won Player of the Week, NONE of the foreign contingent picked by Mashaba - Andile Jali, Ayanda Patosi, Veldwijk, Thalani Serero and May Mahlangu - actually played for their clubs sides last weekend.

As for Vision 2022, Mashaba prefers to look for experience. Some of his domestic selections are understandable. 30-somethings Itumeleng Khune and the recalled Daine Klate are potential match-winners against a Senegal side packed with stars who perform every week in Europe. Keeper Khune has even started taking free-kicks around the opposition box for Kaizer Chiefs, perhaps he will argue over who takes with dead-eye Klate on Saturday.

Given Mashaba’s Afcon 2017 failure - Bafana finished third in Group M behind Cameroon and Mauritania - a significant improvement will be required to top World Cup 2018 Group D where the going is a lot tougher.

The heart-breaking 1-1 draw against Burkina Faso led to reports that Jordaan already had Mashaba’s replacement lined up - former England boss Roy Hodgson was mentioned along with the usual suspects - but from deep within the bowels of SAFA House, my source informs me Mashaba has allies.

Jordaan's blustering was ignored and publicly refuted. The compromise plan was hatched before the World Cup campaign began: if Mashaba could manage four points from his first two qualifiers, he would remain in place and Vision 2022 would have to take a back seat.

But if that four point target is not reached - in other words if Bafana don’t beat Senegal at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday evening - Mashaba will be GONE.

Worryingly, that would mean the new coach taking over for the two matches against Cape Verde with Vision 2022 strapped firmly to his back and Jordaan cracking the whip.

For that reason alone, we must pray for Mashaba’s success. A win over a Les Lions de la Teranga squad featuring just one local player plus the likes of Liverpool’s Sadio Mane and Lazio’s Diao Balde Keith - not to mention Stoke City’s recalled Mame Biram Diouf - will change everything for Mashaba.

With just one competitive win (over minnows Gambia) in 10 Afcon games since the 2-2 draw with Nigeria at the end of 2014, it’s a tall order. Mashaba can point to the early World Cup qualifying wins over Angola back in November 2015 as a hopeful sign, and a current unbeaten run of 13 games including friendlies and COSAFA clashes since the unexpected 3-1 defeat in Mauritania.

But Senegal's lions are not pussy cats. Already ahead of Algeria (35), only Afcon champions Ivory Coast (31) are above them (32) on the FIFA rankings, in 2012 they were languishing in 77th spot.

Mashaba has allowed South Africa to slip to 62nd on the rankings - our average since 1992 is 51st — and the 12th best team in Africa can hardly expect to join the top five for the trip to Russia.

Mashaba says: "I think we have a team to stop Senegal. If you look at the players who played against Burkina Faso, their commitment was very high.”

But then in June, when the World Cup draw was made, he famously said: ““We could not have asked for a kinder draw. I am happy, but that does not mean it is going to be easy.”

The dry words of Vision 2022 do not allow for such self-delusion. They call for development, focus and discipline. The head-stroking, flashy-dressing Mashaba knows: it’s win or bust next week.

Though it looks a long shot, we can only pray for success on Saturday.

DON'T PANIC. Focus on Mamelodi Sundowns, the champions of Africa. Not the Soweto derby

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 29 Oct 2016 16:31:00 +0000

TURKISH DELIGHT: Komphela and Ertugral

IT didn't take long for the balloon to burst. Less than a week after Mamelodi Sundowns were crowned champions of Africa, we find ourselves asking: just how good is South African football?

From the ultimate high of Masandawana winning the African Champions League 3-1 on aggregate in Egypt, the Soweto Derby six days later brought us down to earth with a bump at a near-full FNB Stadium on Saturday. Bafana's home clash with Senegal may well be the next hammer blow, though we pray for World Cup qualification fervently.

Saturday saw yet another 0-0 Drawby, another display of inept finishing, another 90mins of curious refereeing from Victor Gomes. The giants of the PSL somehow managed to overcome the self-glorifying hype to grind our optimism in to the dust with a series of wayward shots from distance, long balls out of defence, poor touches and terrible tackles.

It got all the razzmatazz of course. While the commentators at SABC and SuperSport didn’t bother to travel to Alexandria for the Champions League final and the touch-screen was switched off, the Soweto Derby got it all.

While Sundowns fans had to wait TWO DAYS to hear from the first South African EVER to win the African Champions League, we had Steve Komphela, Muhsin Etrugral and dozens more talking utter nonsense at length on Saturday evening.

KaboYellow fans might have been confused seeing failed Bafana Bafana coach Ephraim “Shaky” Mashaba talking about “football intelligence” after their side had conquered Africa, while not hearing from Pitso Mosimane. SuperSport made an utter nonsense of the biggest night for South African football in 20 years.

But listening to the commentators (between SuperSport suffering yet another series of broadcast glitches), the analysts, the coaches and the players, you’d have thought the Soweto Derby was a scintillating display of attacking football, far more important than any crusade for continental conquest.

Admittedly there were chances at the FNB Stadium. Early on, Thabo Rakhale had no intention of challenging Itumeleng Khune one-on-one, he prefers showboating. Pule Epstein’s volley just before half-time nearly hit Uranus. And the REAL chance of a goal, when Bernard Morrison was pulled down by Lorenzo Gordinho with 10 minutes left, saw Victor Gomes, for the first time since Jesus was a lad, fail to give a penalty when it looked deserved.

Sizwe Mabena told us “this game had everything” while Komphela and Etrugral announced they were “delighted” with the “passion” while blathering on about a point won rather than 2 points squandered. Neither of them gambled with a second striker, preferring instead to stick to the old Soweto Derby adage: “We cannot lose” rather than “We must win”.

We were treated to a few seconds of Komphela and Etrugral talking Turkish, which probably made more sense than most of what we heard on Saturday afternoon. With temperatures rising to 36 degrees, what did we expect from a 3.30pm kick-off during a heat-wave?

Then we could talk about Sundowns being forced to kick-off at 6pm on their grand return against Polokwane City in the Telkom KO on Thursday. Ridiculous from the PSL and SuperSport. No crowd, no fanfare, no nothing.

But hey, how can I be so negative when the CHAMPIONS OF AFRICA are off to Japan for the World Club Cup next month? Let’s just forget the Soweto Derby. And look forward (hopefully) to Masandawana v Real Madrid in a final which could be worth R80m to Pitso's squad.

And… relax.

HOW PITSO CONQUERED AFRICA: the sheer joy of an African Champions League triumph after 11 years

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 23 Oct 2016 21:40:00 +0000

IT wasn’t easy. It wasn’t perfect. But it was effective. Mamelodi Sundowns entered the gates of hell at the other end of Africa and came away beaten but triumphant to win the African Champions League 3-1 on aggregate.

And yes, they endured missiles (even during the warm-up), lasers and fireworks in front of an estimated 75,000 at the Borg el Arab stadium 25km outside Alexandria. The lamentable Confederation of African football, based 200km away in Cairo, did nothing about it. But all that was expected.

What wasn’t predicted was two awful challenges on Masandawana’s Ugandan goalkeeper Dennis Onyango, voted the best stopper in the PSL last season.

Midway through the first half, Onyango was unable to carry on and Wayne Sandilands, the 33-year-old former Bafana Bafana custodian was ushered on. It was a recipe for disaster… but a 1-0 defeat when you’ve won 3-0 at home can hardly be described as that.

And so it was that 7,617 days after Orlando Pirates were crowned South Africa’s only African Champions League winners in 1995, there were scenes all over the continent as Pitso Mosimane became the only South African coach to conquer Africa.

Sandilands may take a bit of flak for the long-range only goal of the night… he got a hand to Ohawuchi's 64th minute shot but couldn't keep it out. Otherwise his experience showed, he was untroubled on crosses and two shots. There were two big saves off the line in the last 10 minutes.

But even if one of those had gone in, Sundowns would have won it. Khama Billiat and Anthony Laffor came close to that emphatic away goal which would have killed off Egyptian civilisation as thoroughly as the Romans once did.

New heroes have been crowned since Pitso’s men joined the rest of South Africa’s sorry bunch in crashing out of Africa. The defeat against AS Vita in the Champions League and Medeama in the Confederations Cup was forgotten when Sundowns were allowed back for the group stages after the Congolese were found to have fielded an unregistered player.

The 26th side to win the African Champions League trophy might have entered through the back door, but once they were thrown in to the group stages, they were unstoppable, despite having to cancel off-season holidays at the last minute and re-arrange their schedule.

They beat mighty Zamalek three times out of four in the latter stages, and the last one on Sunday night didn’t matter. They went north with Colombian offensive fulcrum Leonardo Castro a long-term injury victim, but new stars have emerged, names which must be written in Sundowns stone.

Tiyani Mabunda is my favourite, hard as nails, a born leader, late to stardom at 28. And local product Percy Tau, who looked like he’d slipped out of contention until the African crusade.

Keagan Dolly, who took so long to arrive after the big move from Ajax Cape Town, worked his socks off, Kharma Billiat… well we all know how good he is.

But spare a thought for Asavela Mbekile and Bangaly Soumahoro, hardly household names, but both saved the ball off the line in the dying minutes to silence the Borg el Arab Stadium on Saturday night.

The Egyptians really thought they had a chance, even at 0-3 down. The crazy chairman Mortada Mansour said Sundowns had used muti in Tshwane, the coach Moamen Soliman said he’d resign if the White Knights didn’t produce the miracle. And away he goes, just like his predecessor Mohamed Helmi did in July when Sundowns beat them.

Keagan Dolly and Khama Billiat emerged afterwards to talk about “hard work” and “dserving to win”. Billiat confessed: “It hasn’t been a pleasant journey but we are CHAMPIONS.”

And as if to emphasise their point, two squabbling Egyptian officials were seen in the background, pushing and shoving violently. Africa isn’t for cissies. But Pitso Mosimane is no cissy.

WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK: The ONLY man who can stop Sundowns becoming champions of Africa on Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 19:25:00 +0000

THAT'S FINAL: Gambian referee Bakary Gassama, 37

ONLY one man can stop Mamelodi Sundowns from being crowned champions of Africa in Egypt on Sunday. He’s a Gambian with a silver whistle called Bakary Papa Gassama.

Currently considered CAF’s finest referee, Mr Gassama also refereed last year’s African Champions League final 2nd leg and is lined up for the crunch clash between Nigeria and Algeria 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo on November 12.

He refereed at the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and was the man in the middle for the 2015 African Nations Cup final between Ghana and the Ivory Coast in Bata‚ Equatorial Guinea.

In short, he’s the best there is, a judgement confirmed by the Confederation of African Football when he was named the continent’s best referee at the annual CAF awards last year.

When you go to Alexandria’s Borg el Arab Stadium with a 3-0 lead, as Pitso Mosimane’s Masandawana do on Sunday, a strong, unimpeachable referee is a MUST.

With Jean Claude Birumushahu of Burundi and Marwa Range of Kenya running the lines, Mosimane knows exactly what to expect.

As the KaboYellow heroes headed to Egypt, Mosimane said: “We’ve checked the referees – to see how they deal with pressure. We realise that some of the fouls the referees will deal with differently in Egypt. I’m not talking about cheating.”

There are other dangers awaiting Sundowns, who have crushed everything in their path after re-entering the tournament via the backdoor after AS Vita - who knocked them out before the group stages - were disqualified for playing an ineligible player.

Mosimane grins: “The 12th player (a capacity 40,000 crowd who were largely allowed in to the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium for half-price if they wore Sundowns colours on Saturday) played a very big part. And in Egypt it will play a very big part.

“But they understand that there will be lasers in Egypt. I told them, ‘We’ve been there with Bafana – there were lasers, nothing happened. So let’s go and play.”

And then there’s the latest twist in the modern game. Electronic death threats: “There have been messages sent via social media, to all the players - whoever has got an Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter account, all of them. They have received death threats.

“But you know those things are OK. It’s mind games. The match is eleven versus eleven on the pitch.

“The players have laughed about it. I said, ‘OK that's good. Because if they don’t talk about it maybe it could affect them’.

With Colombian striker Leonardo Castro still injured, Pitso is unlikely to make many changes to his side on Sunday night. He said on Saturday: “If we play like this nobody in the African continent can live with us.”

With a decent referee it’s hard to disagree with that sentiment. And with one eye on Zamalek’s near-failure to qualify from the semi-finals despite a four goal lead, let’s be honest. If you can’t defend a 3-0 advantage, you don’t deserve to be continental champions.

The star is loading. It's been loading since Orlando Pirates did the job in 1996. And nobody is better-qualified than Mosimane to bring it home.

Conquering Africa the Pitso way: Sundowns travel to Egypt with stars in their eyes

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 15 Oct 2016 17:26:00 +0000

THE GOOD, THE DAB AND THE UGLY: Pitso Mosimane

"WHEN WE PLAY LIKE THIS, NOBODY IN SOUTH AFRICA CAN LIVE WITH US. NOBODY ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT"

Pitso Mosimane, Mamelodi Sundowns

Saturday was a good day to be South African. A week after Bafana Bafana and the Springboks had let down the nation, after a week where Thuli Madonsela, angry students and cunning politicians had left us reeling, the Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville provided more than a little solace.

The first leg of the African Champions League final was not expected to be a massive triumph, a glorious goal-fest. Pitso Mosimane was supposed to ensure his mighty Mamelodi Sundowns did not concede at home against Egyptian giants Zamalek. Nobody expected THREE GOALS from Masandawana. Even in my guise as the White Sangoma I only predicted a 2-0 win, and that felt optimistic.

But surpassing all expectations, Sundowns put the Egyptians, for all their continental pedigree, to the sword. Like the Sphinx, the White Knights had their noses throughly put out of joint.

The first goal, coming after 31 minutes of KaboYellow domination, was an absolute beauty. Hlompho Kekana, one of FOUR South African nominees for the CAF African-based player of the year, did the assisting with a wonderful ball to put the Liberian through.

But it was the wonderfully named Anthony Snoti Laffor, first brought to South Africa by Jomo Sono 11 years ago, who did the finishing. The 31-year-old, for so long an afterthought in the Sundowns strike force, simply rammed the ball home to lift a near-full stadium in to yellow mellow.

With Cuthbert Malajile gone to BidvestWits and his replacement Sibusiso Vilakazi not eligible for Champions League selection, Laffor has grabbed his chances with both hands before and after the ankle injury picked up by Colombian Leo Castro.

Laffor’s strike was followed by Tebogo Langerman’s speculative cross dropping in to the net over El-Shenawy’s desperate grasp before half-time. Few would claim it was shot, but they all count and 2-0 at the break was the least Sundowns deserved for their dominance.

Seconds in to the second half, Percy Tau saw his effort across the face of goal deflected home for a crucial own-goal.

And that was it. Zamalek, awful in the heat and altitude, looked completely unprepared. Their coach complained afterwards about Mosimane moving the kick-off to 3pm when they are used to playing in the evenings.

But that’s the point of continental football: make the away trip as grim as you can. Zamalek produced some sort of fight back in the second half, knowing an away goal could change the complexion completely.

But even the highly-rated Basem Morsy couldn’t manage it, shackled as he was by Wayne Arendse, who might have pulled the 24-year-old out of his pocket at the final whistle, such was his iron grip on the Egyptian striker.

Pitso, who laughed afterwards when he was asked if he'd take a job in Egypt, was in top form: "Toe-to-toe we are strong. We'll play the same way in Egypt. They can't deal with it. Nobody on the continent can deal with us when we play like this. But we must keep our feet on the ground.

“I don't like the celebrations happening today today but it's a one-off. The players must enjoy it. We are copying Orlando Pirates, they are the best team in South Africa, we are just behind them.”

Looking at the colourful KaboYellow concrete bowl, where the atmosphere was humming, he grinned: "We've never had this. The crowd. The yellow. It's okay for players to enjoy it. When Sundowns plays like this, not easy for any team.

"I've been in football for long. We have the advantage, we scored the goals but IT'S NOT OVER.”

Beg to differ Pitso. No away goal conceded. Three scored. Zamalek need a miracle of dodgy referees, lasers and riots to get close. Or Gavin Hunt of course!

SHAKY'S DROOPY DRAWS: The Bafana Bafana verdict... and a word for Dean Furman

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 08 Oct 2016 21:31:00 +0000

FURMIDABLE: Dean Furman scored Bafana's goal

"It was a silly goal to give away. But there is no need to cry over spilt milk. Overall, I think we had things under control after surviving an early onslaught early in the first half. But having grown in confidence, I think we could have scored a famous away win" Ephraim "Shakes" Mashaba

IT takes a special talent to let three vital World Cup points slip when you’re 1-0 up in Burkina Faso after the home team have missed two penalties. But South Africa’s Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba has that ability. Never doubt it.

Remember AFCON 2015 when Bafana Bafana were ahead in all three games but came away with one point? Yup, Mashaba’s got a knack for this sort of thing.

On Saturday in Ouagadougou, Shaky - who should never have survived after his awful AFCON 2017 qualifying failure - and our comparatively blessed Bafana Bafana were struggling. No plan, nothing wide, Keagan Dolly lost in a bizarre tactical quagmire and Eleazar Rodgers desperately trying to make his presence felt on his own up front.

It was not a great night for South Africa. An hour before kick-off the nation’s once-feared rugby Springboks had lost 57-15 to New Zealand’s All Blacks, conceding nine tries and scoring none.

We hoped for better from Mashaba’s much-maligned Bafana Bafana and when the ageless custodian Itumeleng Khune saved an unwarranted early penalty from Jonathan Pitroipa, hope sprung eternal.

SHAKY: Mashaba after the draw in Ougoudougou

But in truth, Burkina Faso, with a dodgy referee, are a tough nut to crack at home. With Senegal and the Capo Verde Islanders to come, anything less than a draw would have been disastrous with only the five CAF group WINNERS qualifying for Russia’s 2018 World Cup.

Rodgers, in for the curiously absent Tokelo Rantie, had a couple of chances. So did Mamelodi Sundowns African Champions League finalist Hlompho Kekana. At the back, with Rivaldo Coetzee injured, Tower Mathoho - after the death of his brother - looked out of sorts, his handball offering the Burkinabians hope from the spot.

By half-time, the former Chelsea, Rangers, Oldham Athletic and Doncaster Rovers midfielder Dean Furman - who left for Britain from Cape Town as a nursery school kid - was subjected to widespread nastiness from South Africans on social media. The only pale outfielder picked by Mashaba was being castigated for failing to pull his weight in a midfield that was visibly struggling.

At half-time, I felt the need to point out Furman was doing the job in the midfield, unlike some in the Bafana team - and that he has been our most consistent performer over the past four years, despite being dropped from the squad regularly since Gordon Igesund’s departure for no apparent reason.

And when the SuperSport United midfielder popped up to score what should have been the winner it was a moment which lifted our Rainbow Nation - Furman and I often exchange messages when times are hard. He has never been less than wholehearted in his approach, on and off the field.

It should have, could have, been the victorious icing on a very poorly constructed cake.

But with a win looming Oupa Manyisa, the Orlando Pirates captain who has done little for the Buccaneers since returning from injury. missed an easy chance to make it 2-0 and then gave away ANOTHER penalty after coming on for Dolly.

The second penalty was clear-cut, Mathoho’s first half handball had been marginal. Manyisa's tackle in the box was that of a rank amateur given the situation. But the experienced Alain Traore sent his spot kick so far over the bar you might have glimpsed it over Gauteng had the first rains of summer not crept over the horizon.

But still, somehow, in those final seconds, there was time for Bouna Diawara to produce an injury-time equaliser, dashing South Africa’s hopes of opening their World Cup campaign with a win for the first time since Stuart Baxter was in charge over a decade ago.

With SAFA president Danny Jordaan threatening Mashaba’s job security after the 1-1 draw against Mauritania last month, the word is that Shaky will go if he doesn’t get four points in his opening two World Cup qualifiers.

That means he has to beat a substantial Senegal side at home on November 7. The intervening clash against Ghana this week is meaningless, though Shaky loves a friendly win.

Okay, we’re told locusts, bees, visa problems and Rantie’s ungrateful no-show didn’t help Bafana this week.

But given Mashaba’s inability to hold on to a lead, his lack of tactical acumen, bizarre selection process and clueless substitutions, surely Jordaan, who failed to beat a man called Athol in the NMB mayoral race, must act. The nation deserves better.

THE HUNT IS ON: MTN8 final triumph is just the start of Bidvest's master plan for Wits

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 18:45:00 +0000

JUST BEGINNING: Hunt and Joffe

“Philosophically if you don’t have getting bigger in your DNA, then you need to quit. If you stop growing you’re actually going backwards” BRIAN JOFFE, CEO, BIDVEST

FOUR years ago, the directors at BidVest made a ground-breaking decision to lift their football club Wits University out of the doldrums. The board, which included Brian Joffe and Cyril Ramaphosa. two of South Africa’s most powerful men, had had enough of mid-table mediocrity.

On Saturday night we saw that project begin to blossom, with BidVest Wits crushing African Champions League finalists Mamelodi Sundowns 3-0 in the MTN final at Mbombela. Did I say crushing? Masandawana hardly had a sniff of th R8m winners’ cheque.

The background? For years, millionaire Joffe had put up with the banter from Irvin Khoza and Kaizer Motaung at football gatherings. Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs had shared the PSL title between them from 2011 to 2013, Bidvest’s Clever Boys weren’t even in the picture.

No-nonsense Joffe isn’t used to being second-best. The son of a South African dad and a Lithuanian mum, he bought a pet-food business for R49,000 in 1978. With his wife driving the forklift and moving the pallets of dog-food cans, the company grew… and he sold if for R1m two years later.

And so the Magician of Melrose Arch began his rise… and rise. With his company last year breaking through R200 BILLION in sales, he can afford to indulge his footballing fantasy. I have no idea how much has been spent, but it’s not peanuts.

There will be talk of white privilege, obviously. Ironic really when his football club translates, literally, as Whites University. But this is football. It’s about the race, not race.

The background? Today’s Clever Boys emerged from a student club established by the SRC long before the days of #feesmustfall in 1921.

Half a century later, Wits University took their place in the top flight of South African football in 1975, where Manchester United goalkeeper Gary Bailey and Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Richard Gough were among the big names.

During those formative years, trophies did come the way of the students: the Nedbank Cup in 1978 and 2010 (Wits’ last trophy); the Telkom KO in 1985 and 1995 and the MTN8 in 1984 and 1995.

But in truth, Wits were never big-hitters. They have NEVER won the PSL, their best finish coming in 2003 when they came third under Roger de Sa.

So four years ago, with ANC big-hitter Ramaphosa as his chairman, Joffe launched the big push for his football team, now officially known as Bidvest Wits with little or no connection to the university, apart from their tiny three-sided home ground at Milpark (now the Bidvest Stadium).

Vitally, Joffe and pals grabbed CEO Jose Ferreira from SuperSport United, who had won the PSL title three years in succession under a certain Gavin Hunt. Spaniard Jose Antonio Habas took the club in to contention after the bizarre departure of De Sa, who ended up at Orlando Pirates.

But patience is not a Joffe virtue. Habas was cruelly sent home to run the youth teams at Atletico Madrid and Clive Barker, older than Brian, took over for six months, ending a creditable fourth, Wits’ best finish since 2004. But The Dog was never a long-term option.

And then, on the 28th of May, 2013, Ferreira managed to extract Hunt from his old club SuperSport FC. Serious rebuilding began, huge sums were spent, often on veterans like Zimbabwe’s Benjamin and Namibia Henrico Botes.

Last season, Hunt’s Wits finished second behind Mamelodi Sundowns, where Patrice Motsepe is perhaps the only man spending more than Joffe on football. Pitso Mosimane’s men won with a record 71 points with Hunt 14 points behind.

But on Saturday night, at a soggy Mbombela, Mosimane’s Masandawana were finally cut down to size. With KaboYellow headed in to the African Champions League final against Egypt’s Zamalek, perhaps the mighty Downs were distracted. Pitso claimed the pitch suited Wits. And it did rain a bit.

But from where I sit, Wits have come of age. After three years of investment - not always as cunning as Joffe’s Bidvest itself - Gavin Hunt has built himself a side capable of winning the PSL at last. Third in his first season, 2nd last season, there is a logical progression.

Daine Klate, 31, added the MTN8 title to the
FIVE PSL championships and SEVEN cups he
has already won in 12 seasons of PSL action

Saturday’s night’s lucrative 3-0 win, spearheaded by two goals from 31-year-old Daine Klate, formerly of SuperSport United and Orlando Pirates, was a masterpiece in the art of catching the opposition by surprise.

Pitso droned on about “Wits deserved it” and how many times he had won the MTN8 but in truth Hunt - often linked with the Bafana Bafana job - had done more than just win a final.

“I’ve been here a few years now, I’ll do it my way, your way, the Frank Sinatra way. But we’re getting there. This is just the beginning.”

Hunt is not a big man, but he is a force to be reckoned with, face to face or bench to bench. Just the beginning? No argument here.

Conquering Africa the Sundowns way: Pitso Mosimane defies the odds once more

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 25 Sep 2016 07:23:00 +0000

SPECIAL ONE: Mosimane with one eye on Mourinho

"IS THIS STILL THE BACK DOOR?" Pitso Mosimane, Mamelodi Sundowns.

Before a ball has been kicked, the 2016 African Champions League final has to go down as one of the most bizarre in the competition’s history.

Oryx Douala of Cameroon won the very first continental club championship back in 1965 and South African clubs have always struggled to make their mark - Orlando Pirates famously won it in 1995, reaching the final again just three years ago. The Buccaneers apart, Mamelodi Sundowns are the only other PSL side to get that far, losing in the 2001 final to Egypt’s Al Ahly.

The pesky Cairo-based rivals have dominated the competition. The “Red Devils” of Al Ahly holding the record of eight wins (1982, 1987, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012 and 2013) and the “White Knights’ of Zamalek have done it five times (1984, 1986, 1993, 1996 and 2002).

Saturday night saw Zamalek, apparently coasting to the final after a 4-0 home win, lose 5-2 to Wydad Casablanca, who had sacked veteran Welsh coach John Toshack after the first leg.

Incredibly Wydad were 5-1 up with 26 minutes left, needing just one more goal to go through when Zamalek’s Nigerian Stanley Ohawuchi sealed the deal for the White Knights.

But what about Sundowns? They were 2-1 down after the first leg in Ndola against Zesco United, attempting to become Zambia’s second finalists after Nkana Red Devils, who lost on penalties way back in 1990.

Needing a 1-0 win to survive on away goals, Liberian Anthony Laffor got that vital strike before locally-produced Percy Tau sealed the deal - though an away goal for Zesco, who hit the woodwork, would have forced a draw even at 2-0.

Having been knocked out of the Champions League before the group stages by AS Vita and then the CAF Confederations Cup by Medeama, Sundowns - reinstated when it was found Vita had fielded an ineligible player - journey to the final is unique in world football.

But their form since then gives real reason for optimism for South Africans hoping for a first continental triumph in 21 years. After an opening 2-1 win at Algeria’s ES Setif - who were disqualified for crowd violence after the match - Pitso Mosiman’s men beat Zamalek home and away to qualify for the semi-finals with plenty to spare in Group B.

Mosimane, the former Bafana Bafana national coach, was headed off to watch Copa America when Sundowns were given their lifeline back in to the competition. Many of his players were on holiday and had to be recalled for the opening Group B game in Algeria.

After a rare three game winless streak, Sundowns came back to reach both the domestic MTN8 and CAF finals in the space of four days. Pitso explained: “It’s very difficult for a team to beat Sundowns home and away, over 180 minutes you need to be very good.

“But the boys did very well. Feet on the ground, one step at a time. Sugar Mabunda unbelievable. Percy Tau scored, I’m happy. I’ve been needing this goal. Percy scores in Champions League, and he scores with his head in Champions League.

“As long as they our fans support us, as long as they sing their lungs out, the boys respond. We kept consistent at home. Two goals and a clean sheet.

“Zesco is a very good team and playing in Ndola and Atteridgeville are totally different stories. I think the boys deserve credit, they’ve done very well”

“We’ve been playing football for 15 months, non-stop, it’s not possible, and that’s why we are not fresh as usual.

Mosimane had words for Manchester United fans, who also recovered from a three-game slump this week: “Jose Mourinho issued a statement because he lost three games. If he was in South Africa, do you know what would have happened? They would have asked him for a meeting, for a technical report, he must explain why the team is not winning.

“But this is the licence that we get from Manchester United to say ‘don’t write us off’ and let’s keep going. So, against all odds, a luta continua, vitoria certa, we don’t need anybody’s favour.”

“We came from nowhere and on holiday to the cup final, we deserve it. I know they said we went through the back door, but I don’t know how we qualified for the final … is this still the back door?”

WHO DO WE BELIEVE? SAFA or the BBC: Is Shakes Mashaba a dead boss walking?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 17 Sep 2016 19:07:00 +0000

SUITS YOU: Mashaba on Saturday with SAFA's Mumble

WITH time running out before the start of Africa's 2018 World Cup qualifiers next month, South African football remains in limbo, caught between #shakyin, #shakygone and #shakyout.

Amid the bickering between shaky SAFA and the highly respected BBC Sports website on Saturday, we can narrow the chaotic argument over Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba’s future down to three alternatives.

1 Shaky could be fired on Wednesday night by the SAFA technical committee. This is the TRUTH according to the BBC’s African football correspondent Osasu Obayiuwana, who quotes a Saturday morning conversation with SAFA president Danny Jordaan.

2 Mashaba will stay on for the World Cup qualifiers despite his disastrous AFCON 2017 qualifying campaign which left South Africa third in Group M. This is the TRUTH according to SAFA communications chief Dominic Chimhavi, who says Shakes must be left to “complete his mandate” by qualifying for Russia 2018.

3 The national head coach will be fired if he fails to manage four points against Burkina Faso on October 8 and Group D favourites Senegal on November 7. This appears to be the compromise option suggested by those who fear a civil war between Jordaan and the Shaky faction at SAFA.

There is no official line on Mashaba’s future, despite Jordaan saying after the draw against Mauritania last month: “I think it’s a disappointing performance. This must be the end of the journey, not the beginning, because this cannot lead us into the World Cup campaign, where we will play the giants of the African continent.”

After the friendly win over Egypt four days later, Jordaan went silent despite reports he had a replacement lined up for Mashaba, the man he called “our cheapest option” on the day of his appointment in July 2016.

But on Saturday morning, Osasu Obayiuwana dropped a series of devastating tweets followed by a story on the BBC African Football website suggesting Mashaba’s turbulent, head-rubbing reign was indeed over.

He quoted Jordaan saying: "Mashaba just has to go. The outcry is too much. The SAFA exco will discuss this matter on Wednesday.

"In the case of non-performance, he is entltled to a pay-off of 3 months wages.

"We have to get a new coach in place, before our opening World Cup qualifier. This is very important.”

SAFA’s Chimhavi exploded in to action. He called me to insist “the Nigerian is being malicious” and said I had to back him as I had “so many twitter followers”, he asked me to call him “a SAFA spokesman”.

But that was difficult. On Twitter, the excitable Chimhavi said: "What you are saying is ill-advised, wrong and malicious. IT'S NOT TRUE” and he said Osasu was “digging his own grave”.

But Mr Obayiuwana calmly responded with the EXACT time of his interview with Jordaan, and how long it took (6mins and 28secs). He told Chimhavi to take his complaint directly to the BBC. He asked: “Are you saying I manufactured the convo?”

While that battle rages on, long-suffering South African football fans remain in the dark. Chimhavi insists Mashaba will name the Bafana squad for the trip to Burkina Faso as usual and that SAFA will not discuss his future this week.

Chimhavi is nothing if not enthusiastic. He tweeted: “Statement by sensationalist Nigerian journalist is malicious and incorrect. I'm with Mashaba & SAFA CEO as we speak.”

While Jordaan, who called football “just a hobby” when he went off to lose the ANC mayorship at Nelson Mandela Bay, replied to my asking if Mashaba was gone with one word: “No.”

The truth, from where I sit, has to be influenced by this message from Osasu: “Neal, I stand by every word I have written.” Our debate, both openly on twitter and via direct messages, clearly indicates he spoke to Jordaan.

And as we head towards the World Cup qualifiers, SAFA remains in chaos. The president is directly contradicted by his communications director. Chimhavi denies Mashaba is a dead boss walking.

Yet I know of at least one coach claiming he has been offered the Bafana Bafana job. And another, foreign-based, who is in contact with somebody at SAFA about the role.

Somebody, please. Save us from SAFA. Nobody wants another World Cup qualifying failure.

EXPOSING THE SHAMBLES AT SAFA: was AFCON 2017 qualification mandatory for Shaky? Will NOTHING be done before the World Cup qualifiers?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 10 Sep 2016 21:03:00 +0000

WHAT A TWIT! On Sept 6, Chimhavi says Mashaba's
only mandate is Russia 2018, Afcon 2017 failure is
clearly of no consequence to SAFA

THE rumblings at SAFA House have been bothering the nation since it our national football body built its R150m headquarters with FIFA Legacy Fund money before the 2010 World Cup had even kicked off.

It’s an uncomfortable place, lying in the shadow of Soccer City, the fading edifice now called the FNB Stadium, where crowds are becoming more and more difficult to draw as South African football tumbles down the slippery slope of maladministration.

Dominic Chimhavi, SAFA’s Head of Communications, neatly sums up the mess in a organisation where the elected president Danny Jordaan turned his back on football to lose the mayoral election in Nelson Mandela Bay.

Jordaan and I have been through the mill. I backed him to the hilt in the SAFA presidential elections, we met for lunch a couple of times at Nelson Mandela Square, he showed me how much of the FIFA World Cup legacy fund remained (I still have the documents, I’ve displayed them on television, still not seen significant grass roots spending) and when I stood up against national coach, Gordon Igesund for being influenced by agents, Danny came calling.

As the only journalist to actually give evidence to the Arendse Inquiry, I expressed concern when Ephraim Mashaba, know to be a client of super-agent Tim Sukazi, was given the biggest job in South African football in July 2014 after Igesund’s contract was not renewed.

But, as Jordaan explained, Shaky was the cheap option, Carlos Queiroz only heard the news that he was too expensive throught the media, having agreed to return to South Africa during Igesund’s CHAN 2013 failure on home soil.

Jordaan promised Mashaba would be tutored in modern tactics and methods by FIFA’s technical guru Gerard Houllier, he said a closer eye would be kept on agent influence, Dr Irvin Khoza came out and said Shaky was the first Bafana coach NOT to listen to agents.

But the predictable soon happened. After a successful 2015 Afcon qualifying campaign, Mashaba’s selection for the tournament in Equatorial Guinea was laughable. Strange names cropped up, Thulani Serero was thrown out. He rotated goalkeepers and captains, had no idea how to maintain a lead, and came home after a five-day disappearance with just one point.

By then SAFA was scrabbling for cover. Jordaan told me Mashaba had NO mandate when he took the job, though Igesund was told finish top four in Afcon 2013 and qualify for Brazil 2016.

But as we drew with minnows Gambia at home and lost to Mauritania 3-1 on an artificial surface we weren’t prepared for, it became clear Mashaba had no idea how to run a national football team in the modern game. In 10 AFCON games since the away draw against Nigeria in late 2014, Bafana have won 1, drawn 6 and lost 3.

After the final draw against Mauritania at home this month, Bafana Bafana found themselves with 7 points, everyone knew they were OUT weeks before, yet SAFA hung on, saying they would not act until after the final game.

Curiously, after that match, the returning Jordaan (who said as mayor football was “just a hobby” and he “had never been paid a penny” in his SAFA role) said: “This must be the end of the journey, not the beginning, because this cannot lead us into the 2018 campaign, where we will play the giants of the African continent."

That led to some serious speculation. It look like the Mandela Challenge would be Mashaba's last game in charge, there were reports of a big-name foreign coach being appointed, from sources within shadowy SAFA House.

But the #shakyout campaign had about as much hope as #feesmustfall. The friendly 1-0 win over Egypt followed and there was Chimhavi telling me SAFA net would NOT be discussing Mashaba’s future at the meeting over the weekend and that “the coach has to see through his mandate of qualifying for Russia 2018”. Fortunately I have a picture of this stunning tweet, which was retweeted by @safa_net.

So that, it appears, is that, for the #shakyout campaign. But people keep asking about Mashaba’s demise, so I tweeted THIS on Saturday:

Yes, as I've said repeatedly, @dchimhavi says #shaky's mandate was to qualify for WC2018, not @AFCON2017 @WASINATOR_95 @SAFA_net

Unbelievably, Chimhavi then tweeted: “When did I say that? Don’t put words into my mouth Mr Collins; teaching young journos bad traits”

DROWNING IN DENIAL Chimhavi digs deeper

So what’s a man to do? Look, I like Dominic, we travelled together with the AmaJimbos and I did a lot of work with the U17s thanks to him, and enjoyed his company.

But subsequent promises of travelling with Bafana to see Shakes in action first hand came to nothing on numerous occasions.

How can this man accuse me of misleading people when his tweet is clear as a bell: MASHABA’S MANDATE WAS RUSSIA 2018. Chimhavi said it. Afcon 2017 failure, a deep and significant blow which saw us come THIRD in the group, was rendered meaningless.

Now we go in to a World Cup qualifying campaign against might Group D rivals Senegal, Cape Verde and Burkina Faso, a far more daunting prospect than Cameroon, Mauritania and Gambia in AFCON 2017 Group M.

And Chimhavi tells us Mashaba’s failure will not matter. Has the report on South Africa’s disastrous campaign been delivered? Why did Shaky keep picking players not good enough for their clubs? Why did he treat Kamohelo Mokotjo so badly he retired from Bafana? Is there a correlation between certain agents and selection? Why is Shaky still involved in KeYona after being clearly told it wasn’t acceptable by SAFA?

But none of these questions matter. According to SAFA’s “head of communications” Mashaba’s mandate was World Cup 2018. In other words, he hasn’t even started yet.

Unbelievable.

From Shaky to shakier: Mashaba said "something special is brewing" but it was just decomposing

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 04 Sep 2016 08:24:00 +0000

TIME TO GO: Ephraim "Shakes" Mashaba

ONE win in months. An endless list of excuses. Failure to address deep-seated failures in the organisation. Lacking qualified leadership. No, we're not talking Kaizer Chiefs. Or even the ANC. It's SOUTH AFRICAN FOOTBALL we have to worry about.

Our PSL ground to a halt after one game, with the opening round suffering record low attendances. For the first time in living memory we don't have a player in the top 5 leagues in Europe. Our national football team continues to hit new lows.

Thank God for Mamelodi Sundowns, I say. And yes, they are coached by the coach SAFA threw out.

Like a broken record, Pitso Mosimane's successor Ephraim Mashaba drones on. And on. A 1-1 home draw against a 10-man nation of slave owners. But listen carefully. Mashaba’s saying nothing. He’s going nowhere.

Third in Group M. Out of AFCON 2017 months ago, though neither coach nor president appeared to notice. One point from two games against Mauritania, ranked 104 in the world.

No admission of guilt from Shakes. No apology to the nation. Just a bizarre utterance concerning Zimbabwe’s Kharma Billiat, when Dino Ndlovu and Kermit Erasmus, resurrecting their striking careers on foreign fields, are ignored again and again by our national head coach.

As a lesson in motivation, Mashaba’s views on his strike force are best ignored. But here it is: "All the top strikers in the league are foreign. If I can have a player like Khama Billiat, then maybe we’d score more.”

But then Mashaba’s post-match comments cannot be expected to measure up to somebody like, say, Kaizer Chiefs coach-cum-poet Steve Komphela.

On June 5 this year, Mashaba said: "Can this be one of the best Bafana Bafana teams ever? Something special is brewing." Arrogant. Delusional. Out of touch. His current squad rarely rises above the awful.

He's even talked about winning the World Cup, in his mind, his team "completely dominates" every team Bafana plays against, he eagerly suggests the non-playing stars in his line-up will come good, it’s been this way since the 2-2 draw with Nigeria in 2014.

Up to that point, we were happy to put up with his bizarre lack of tactics, his weird decisions, that inexplicable head-rubbing goal celebration.

But by the time he’d selected his AFCON 2015 team, throwing out Thulani Serero in a deceitful rage, we were starting to suspect Mashaba wasn’t all he seemed. We finally began to understand why he hadn’t been snatched up to manage a club or left South Africa’s youth set-up apart from a brief failure with Swaziland.

There’s more: after the Mauritania debacle, the decision to let his old favourite Thamsanqa Gabuza take the penalty, the fact we didn’t try to exploit the visitors’ red card, the total lack of imagination.

Here’s more: “The way the boys are playing, I don’t doubt we’ll qualify for the World Cup,” he boasts, just before our qualifying group rivals Senegal became the ONLY side to qualify for Gabon next year with a perfect record.

And then: "We are really looking forward to qualifying with the team we are setting up, but we have one problem; how are we going to sort out the scoring problem?”

But that’s where this all started. We go in to the Mandela challenge against Egypt full of hope. South Africa have been winning friendlies and losing competitive games for decades. Remember the 2010 World Cup warm-ups? Unbeaten for months. The dodgy 3-0 win over Mali in Gabon just before AFCON 2015?

Best not examine those games too closely. They have given Mashaba an apparently impressive overall record 37 games, with 17 wins, 16 draws and just four defeats.

But look closer. Go back to that last AFCON 2015 qualifier in Nigeria, drawn 2-2 after two superb Tokelo Rantie goals. Since then, Bafana have played 10 Afcon games. Just one win, 7 draws, two defeats. You get a clearer picture. The real picture.

Mashaba is tactically bankrupt. He has no idea how to change a game with substitutes. Mr Rotation doesn’t even know who his captain, goalkeeper or penalty taker might be. He chooses players, as so many Bafana coaches before him, by listening to the loudest agent.

And for those, like me, who thought a technical director might help control a man who gets his son to ask questions in press conferences, Neil Tovey has been the biggest disappointment of all. Silent on all fronts, apart from SuperSport TV where he is paid for his views while pulling a big salary from SAFA. Unbelievable.

I have little doubt Shaky, who apparently still subscribes to Danny Jordaan’s Vision 2022 philosophy, will beat Egypt on Tuesday with five or six players close to 30.

And the SAFA President, just back from losing Nelson Mandela Bay to the DA, will no doubt tell us how wonderful everything is. It’s isn’t. We finished THIRD in AFCON Group M. Only ONE side qualifies for Russian 2018. Senegal are coming.

SOLVED: THE SOWETO GIANT-KILLINGS... why Pirates and Chiefs will go no further in the MTN8

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 28 Aug 2016 15:24:00 +0000

OvoNO! Two assists for Pirates goalkeeper

FROM a poorly attended mid-week start to the PSL to the fascinating MTN8... and straight to an international break. Not the best way to start the South African football season but hey, it's been absorbing.

Unless you support Orlando Pirates or Kaizer Chiefs.

In a season barely two games old, the demise of BOTH Soweto Giants in the lucrative MTN8 competition should come as an earth-shaking upset to long-suffering local football watchers.

Sadly, as I have been saying for some time, it’s not much of a surprise. Kaizer Chiefs, though dominant in possession, failed 1-0 against three-month-old Cape Town City while Orlando Pirates were beaten 2-1 by Bidvest Wits despite an early penalty.

In truth, the AmaKhosi and the Buccaneers should be sneering at these small clubs with tiny support bases. Both Soweto clubs still enjoy the R1bn 5-year joint-sponsorship from Vodacom - not to mention the benefits of the Carling Black Label Cup and numerous other sponsors.

But the Khoza-Motaung alliance, now forged in marriage of daughter and son as well as self-serving sponsorship, has failed to bring the expected advantages of monopoly. One glance at the MTN8 semi-final draw shows Sundowns against Chippa United and Wits against Cape Town City over two legs. Shocking.

In theory, Pirates and Chiefs both enjoy huge support, drawing the majority of fans in every city in South Africa, no matter the opposition. Lately those crowds have collapsed, but even with gate income at an all-time low, they should be in massive profit.

Yet still here we are, with both clubs, who finished a disappointing 5th and 7th in the PSL last season, out of the MTN8 at the first hurdle.

For me, the reasons are clear and have been highlighted here repeatedly. Bobby Motaung, the Chiefs “General Manager” refuses to spend his millions on transfer fees, preferring to sniff out free signings and cheap deals with agent Tim Sukazi.

Not much has been said about the way Sukazi’s clients now dominate the Chiefs technical bench too. A few weeks ago, boss Steve Komphela - who said after Friday’s night’s defeat “pressure is a pleasure” - hinted that the public execution of 20 Chiefs players in June and the arrival of 8 cheap replacements and a couple of youth squad members was not exactly how he planned to start his second season at Naturena.

And at Pirates, where three top youngsters were sent to the excellent Dance Malesela's Chippa and a trio of Free State Stars were drafted in during the Panyaza Lesufi/Moroka Swallows fiasco, Muhsin Etrugral (swapped with Eric Tinkler when Mpumalanga Black Aces were deleted) is little better off.

To his credit Etrugral took the blame for Saturday night’s humiliation against Gavin Hunt’s tougher, harder, better Clever Boys. Twice. He said he was at fault for the way the Buccaneers went “backwards, backwards” and he scapegoated himself for the absence of Brighton Mhlongo in goal.

And this is where we come to the real problem. While neither Chiefs nor Pirates appear to have spent much for three transfer windows - R3m for Ghana’s Bernard Morrison from AS Vita appears to be the only fee paid - it’s not just a lack of talent which keeps Soweto’s football in the second class compartment.

What I don’t understand in this: WHY does Komphela, so intelligent, so articulate, continue to start Bernard Parker when clearly the man is a spent force? And WHY did Etrugral take Felipe Ovono, a rare home-born Equatorial Guinea international, off the transfer list and shove him in to the first team?

Parker, as I said repeatedly on twitter, had no impact in Cape Town. He was whisked off at half-time to general acclaim from the on-line AmaKhosi. Ovono was trending on the social networks for inadvertently assisting in both Wits goals.

My question is this: who selects the teams in Soweto? Previous regimes at both clubs claim to have their team list changed in the dressing-room minutes before the game. Both those coaches are now gone. You'd assume with Tebza Moloi and Doc Khumalo now OUT of the dressing room, all this would come to a halt.

But here were are, a week in to the new season, and the bizarre selections - once termed “sinister forces” by the now-dumped Pirate Lucky Lekgwathi - are still with us. Mind-blowingly silly decisions by two coaches under HUGE pressure to perform.

Etrugral clearly knows he has to toe the line in his early days at Parktown. But for Komphela, with one dodgy win over relegated AmaTuks since February, must surely rely on his own instincts at this point.

Or tell us EXACTLY who things work at Kaizer Chiefs before it’s too late.

Forget the tracksuits, count the medals: South Africa celebrate Rio revival

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 21 Aug 2016 09:39:00 +0000

WINNING BY A MARGIN: Caster Semenya

When your president rouses himself on a Sunday to congratulate a South African sports team, you know you've done okay.

As in all sports, you can only judge a team by its results. And on that basis, South Africa’s Olympians at Rio 2016 have to be given a massive pat on the back. Even Jacob Zuma said they were "outstanding" on Sunday morning as the sporting carnival drew to a close.

Sure, we can pick out the weaknesses. The bizarre retro tracksuits, those who finished out of the top 50 in their events, the lack of ANY relay teams and the non-travelling hockey teams.

But history will reflect South Africa’s most successful Olympics since re-introduction in 1992. The target of 10 medals was met. And two glittering gold medals will return to these shores.

The golden moment of a fascinating week of athletics has to go to Wayde van Niekerk. He shattered Michael Johnson’s apparently indomitable world record over 400m and is now a household name around the globe.

Caster Semenya, tweeting bizarre pre-race assertions on a now-verified twitter account, did EXACTLY what she promised, winning the women’s 800m by an even greater margin than Wayde.

Shrugging off the approaching storm, Semenya said: "It's just fantastic. Thanks to team, my physios, my coach, my training partners, my wife and my family. Great job. If it wasn't for them I wouldn't be here today."

The question is: will Caster's gold lead to a long-lasting change in attitudes to same-sex marriage among the traditionally conservative sporting fraternity? Let's hope so.

There's more, much more. Henri Schoeman’s surprise bronze in the triathlon - he finished just ahead of compatriot and medal favourite Richard Murray in fourth - was a major boost, Chad Le Clos became our most decorated Olympian by adding two further silvers in the pool, and Sunette Viljoen speared silver too with her opening throw.

Once more, South Africa emerges as an African Olympian giant, second only to Kenya’s middle-distance kings in the medals table. Nigeria, with a population five times ours, only managed a single medal, bronze in the football.

Yes, there were controversies. But the greatest of those were unifying tales, great stories that drew the nation together.

Luvo Manyango’s dramatic silver medal in the long-jump came despite drug addiction and a doping ban. Viljoen’s javelin tore through the heart when we read how her brother struck her twice when she came out as a homosexual.

And of course, Caster - ironically attempting to usurp the androgynous Jarmila Kratochvilova’s 1983 world record - sailed through the storm over her gender with aplomb. Soon, given a pace-maker, will we see her become the fastest woman ever over two laps.

We can talk of medals and success - Sports Minister Mbalula Fikile will make sure of that - despite a feeling in the gut that many of our athletes succeeded DESPITE the efforts of SASCOC not BECAUSE of the Tubby Reddy brigade.

But I’ll celebrate the 2016 Olympics in Rio because it brought the nation together. Some tried to talk about race, others gave up after both South African teams went out early in the football tournament.

For the TRUTH about 2016, you had to be on the social networks in the early hours of Sunday morning as Caster prepared to deliver the gold I guaranteed all week on eTV Sunrise.

The Rainbow Nation stayed awake, as many had for a fortnight of Brazilian brilliance. And we celebrated together as one when Mokgadi made a mockery of an 800m field shorn of Russians.

And who knows, when the dust settles, the woman that beat her in to the silver medal position at London 2012, Mariya Savinova, may yet be deprived of her ill-gotten gold. And we’ll discover that “our Caster” did what Mo Farah and Usain Bolt did: defended her title.

But for now, let’s celebrate. With Usain Bolt and Justin Gatlin on the way out, Wayde van Niekerk, Anasa Jobodwzne and Akani Simbine could be set for years of sprinting success for South Africa.

Building on success has never been a great South African sporting trait. This time, the opportunity should not be missed.