Sport Matters

Winning feeling. . . Thabiso Nkoana scored the only goal as SuperSport United stopped Don Bosco in Lubumbashi, DR Congo on Sunday. Well done Matsatsantsa! JUST when I was thinking to myself how much the South African soccer public, usually obnoxious towards African football, had learnt from the recently ended Africa Cup of Nations, the chairman of SuperSport United gave some hope. According to a newspaper report, Mr Khulu Sibiya this week gave United coach Gavin Hunt a revised mandate: forget the (local) league, win the CAF Confederation Cup.   Today Hunt and the boys leave for DR Congo for their CAF fixture with Den Bosco. Before I dwell on their trip, I want to commend Sibiya for making a clean break from the general attitude by South African club bosses. In his statement, Sibiya asks a simple but crucial question: “If we can’t do well in CAF competitions how can we expect to conquer the world?” He has a point: if Hunt wins the domestic league again, for the fourth tim

Real deal. . . Jonathan Pitroipa will be the man to watch for Burkina Faso in the 2013 Afcon final today. THE 2013 Orange Africa Cup of Nations tournament is heading to a potentially exciting finale today after a stuttering start which fed on the apathy of the local fans. After a low-key opening ceremony and two goalless draws on the first day - and another draw in Group B fixtures the second day, before Mali finally cracked it against Niger later that day - it appeared the tournament was heading for disaster. The referees also got into the act for all the wrong reasons, deciding outcomes through bizarre decisions. Strangely enough, pre-tournament favourites Ghana and defending champions Zambia were the biggest beneficiaries of refereeing shenanigans. Though some argue CAF is the mastermind behind the questionable decisions, the controlling body to their credit took decisive action. They expelled three referees from the tournament, including South Africa’s Daniel Bennett. Even