Índex per July 2021 a Kick Off

From Mamelodi Sundowns winning the League title with just one defeat; AmaZulu finishing second on the log – which is the highest position for the team since winning the League in 1972 – to Tshakuma Tsha Madzivhandila winning the Nedbank Cup, the 2020/21 Primer Soccer League season was one of the most interesting campaigns in the last 25 years. AmaZulu made their mark AmaZulu’s new owner, Sandile Zungu, bought the club before the beginning of the season and made a good decision when he decided to keep the original name and home base – something that we don’t often see in South African football. Zungu, a passionate club supporter himself, followed that up by making changes in his technical team early in the season when he brought in Benni McCarthy…

GOOD MONTH FOR… PETER SHALULILE The Mamelodi Sundowns striker was named PSL Footballer of the Season for the 2020-21 campaign, a deserved accolade for a player who brought goals, assists and plenty of energy to the league champions. BAD MONTH FOR… GAVIN HUNT Hunt had to be patient to get his chance to lead one of South Africa’s ‘Big Three’, but having landed the head coach role at Kaizer Chiefs this season, the timing proved awful as the club battled with a transfer ban and unbalanced squad. He was sacked before the end of the campaign for the first time since leaving Hellenic in the early 2000s.…

Wayne Sandilands 21 appearances The veteran goalkeeper stayed fit all season and was always available to play whenever needed, in the end sharing the duties with Richard Ofori. Sandilands has also been doubling up as goalkeeper coach since the beginning of the year following the departure of Jyri Nieminen, who is now with Major League Soccer club New York Red Bulls alongside another former Pirates assistant in Bradley Carnell. Sandilands conceded 20 goals and kept 10 clean sheets in the 21 games that he played. RATING – 6/10 Siyabonga Mpontshane 8 appearances For long a reserve option, Mpontshane has proven just how professional he is in the way he trains. After almost two years either sitting on the bench or in the stands, he was ready when called upon to…

The failure to qualify for 24-team Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon early next year shows how low Bafana Bafana have fallen from the heights reached as African champions in 1996. That disappointing campaign has forced SAFA to dump Molefi Ntseki for Hugo Broos, the man who will now be tasked with overseeing the World Cup qualifiers. “That was sad,” number one goalkeeper Ronwen Wililams says about Bafana’s failure to qualify for Afcon. “We didn’t expect that because we thought we had done enough in the previous games. I don’t think going into the last two games we have ever been on nine points, so maybe we were too relaxed. “We still did enough to win against Ghana. I don’t think they caused us any problems, so it is a…

1 Goalkeeper Moneeb Josephs Moneeb was someone… if you played with him, you would know that a loss is not something he takes lightly. He would fight if we didn’t do well, unlike now where it’s OK for players to post things on Social Media after a defeat. To Moneeb, that would not have gone down well. 2 Rightback Lucky Lekgwathi Our captain at Orlando Pirates, Lucky was one of the hard workers, he pushed us on and off the field. He dedicated his time to Pirates and he was rewarded with all the trophies that the team won during the two ‘Treble’ seasons. 3 Leftback Innocent Mdledle ‘Inno’ was a top defender, when it was time to be rough and start kicking players, he would do that. At training…

KEANIN AYER Ayer is busting midfilder who as been part of the varbergs set-up since he joined the club in 2018 and a year later played a key role in helping them win promotion to the elite league in sweden The 21-year-old was developed through the Right to Dream Academy in Accra, Ghana, but was raised in Eldorado Park. He has missed the start of the 2021 season due to injury. LUKE LE ROUX Midfielder Le Roux is regarded by many as one of the top prospects in South African football and looks to be part of couch David Notoane's Olypic Games Plans The 21-year-old was in the academy at Ajax Cape Town, then later SuperSport United and also had a spell on loan at Stellenbosch FC, where he made…

What went on with Sekhukhune United and Royal AM, and the subsequent court order that the Play-offs must be postponed until further notice, is a huge indictment on football administrators in this country. The National First Division spent a very long time without a sponsor and after acquiring such a lucrative benefactor in GladAfrica, this happens. Is this how we are thanking those that invest in our game? Everyone involved with the running of football in this country needs to take a close look at themselves and ask: is this how we want to go forward? Because the NFD doesn’t deserve this. We never see this happening at the highest level in the DStv Premiership, only in the lower league. It’s very important that football is protected. As someone who…

Sacking Gavin Hunt To my dismay, I saw that Kaizer Chiefs supremo Kaizer Motaung has given Gavin Hunt the boot. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. In my humble opinion, Mr Motaung was wrong, and here’s why: * Gavin Hunt is a proven winner – Jose Mourinho was successful at Chelsea in his first stint – plenty of 1-0 wins. No fan of Chelsea today will admit we played boring football, but they’ll remember they won trophies. * For Hunt to be successful, he needed time and his own players – he inherited this squad. I am of the opinion, give the coach what he wants. That way, should he fail, he can only blame himself. Another example of giving a coach/manager time is Jurgen Klopp at…

• Kaizer Chiefs re-appoint Stuart Baxter to the head coach role, a position he filled with great success from 2013-15 when he won two leagues titles, the MTN8 and Nedbank Cup. • Kaizer Chiefs also appoint former Bafana Bafana national team coach Molefi Ntseki as their head of Head of Technical and Youth Development Academy in another backroom shake-up at the ailing club. • Cape Town City re-appoint Eric Tinkler as their head coach after he led the side to third and the Telkom Knockout in his previous season in the Mother City in 2016-17. He replaced Dutchman Jan Olde Riekerink. • Former Mamelodi Sundowns spokesperson Thulani Thuswa passes away after a car accident on June 6. He was a hugely popular figure within local football circles. • Richards Bay…

The road to the PSL for Aubrey Modiba was not the conventional path taken by most players as he twice had to go for trials in Polokwane, chasing opportunities in Gauteng with his grandmother’s goodwill laying the foundation. “The first trials that I went to were for the School of Excellence admission in 2009,” Modiba says. “The people from the school came to Polokwane and it was two of us chosen from about 600-700 hopefuls that were there. “Those trials started at 08h00 and then went on until it got dark, so it is such thoughts that always make me realise how lucky and appreciative of the opportunity that I now have as a professional footballer because I know how many other people wanted this. “That day changed my life…

After the turn of the new millennium, in the years when Raphael Chukwu’s struggles in Italy took him back and forth between Bari and Mamelodi Sundowns, there was a need to find a replacement for the Nigerian forward at Chlookop. Plenty of signings were made as the club sought to find another forward with a similar frame who could play with his back to goals and be effective in the air. By chance, a forward of Portuguese descent named Victor ‘Vitinho’ dos Santos found himself at Sundowns as a free agent after having last been on the books of Costa do Sol – the dominant Mozambican club of the early 2000s. “Do you remember the late Sergio Simao? He was the guy who used to bring players from Mozambique to…

South African football clubs have made us proud in both CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup competitions. Before the mid-2000’s, CAF afforded SA clubs one spot for each of the club tournaments. In 2016, Mamelodi Sundowns won the Champion’s League, and then the Super Cup in 2017, and the Brazilians represented SA in the FIFA Club World Cup. Although the Tshwane giants were booted from the contest in the first round, the club made us proud. Sundowns have since been competitive, often reaching the later knockout rounds. This achievement led to CAF affording SA two spots in both competitions. Unsurprisingly, this season PSL had three clubs representing the country up to the quarterfinals of both the CAF tournaments. Sundowns and Orlando Pirates were knocked out in the quarterfinals, whilst Kaizer…

1971-79 Average finish: 2nd 1971 (2nd) Chiefs’ inaugural season as a club in the first National Professional Soccer League campaign saw them win 18 out of 24 matches, score an average of 3,5 goals per game and still finish second to the club they had split from – Orlando Pirates. 1972 (3rd) Chiefs had been in contention but two defeats in their last four games saw them finish behind champions Zulu Royals [now AmaZulu] and runners-up Moroka Swallows Big XV, even though they scored in all but two of their 26 league games. 1973 (2nd) Pirates win the title by a healthy seven-point margin and had it all wrapped up two months before the last game was played. Chiefs collected 43 points from 30 games as the size of the…

What are your thoughts about the new 2021-22 season? There will be a lot of expectation, I will have to manage that. It is a tougher league [now], the league has improved in terms of the bottom teams, they are all tight games. The game has moved forward and changed. I remember when I came last time and spoke about ‘transitions’, people laughed and asked what they were. Now they are an integral part of everybody’s game. I have to find what is new and what can I use that will bring us an advantage and that edge. It will be a challenge, but an interesting one. Chiefs have not won a trophy since you left, the longest barren spell in the club’s history… When I came here last time…

1 Victor Letsoalo was raised in Ga-Thaba, Ga-Molepo in Limpopo. He was born on April Fool’s Day in 1993. “I grew up with my grandmother because my mother was working and living in Gauteng. I have a younger brother Tebogo, he’s 20 now, and a big family but you won’t want to go into that, it’s unnecessary [laughs].” 2 He attended Moefadi Primary School and then graduated to Zoetfontein Secondary School, where he matriculated in 2012. “My favourite subject was Geography because the teacher was good. After Matric I just went into football but definitely I still want to go and study Sports Management one day.” 3 The 28-year-old has been playing professional football for the last seven years, having started with Baroka in the 2014/15 National First Division season.…