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Showing posts from 2014

Fifa club cup begs for attention

The 2014 Fifa Club World Cup currently on in Morocco has received very little to zero coverage in most of Africa, including South Africa. I don't know about other places on the continent, but as far as South Africa is concerned the media boycott has nothing to do with Morocco's late withdrawal as hosts of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nation. Knowing the attitude of my country's media and the football public at large, this world show on home continent was destined to be a non-starter as was the case last years and the years before. One would have thought that since we were competing with Morocco for the 2013 and 2014 hosting rights, South Africa would take interest to see how we could have done things better, compared with what's transpiring in Morocco right now. By the look of things, all is going well in Morocco and the games are well supported. The first semifinal on Tuesday, when Real Madrid beat Cruz Azul of Mexico 4-0 in Marrakech, 34,862 fans thronged the stadiu

How clinical Klitschkos ended razzmatzz

Heavyweight kings. . . Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko celebrate another victory. A fierce left hook ended it in the fifth round. Despite the clinical finish and the thunderous punch, the news went largely unnoticed. The event was heavyworld champion Wladimir Klitschko defending his four championship belts.  The event took place on Saturday in Hamburg, Germany. And how did the heavyweight title fight end up being a brief in the newspapers, and even crucially, non-event on radio, is quite astonishing. What happened to the days when the heavyweight championship was top billing for weeks ahead of the date, and big news on the fight weekend until the Monday. On Monday November 17, my paper Sowetan did not carry an article on the event. The Times had it as the shortest brief in a column of four briefs.  So what happened to the biggest slam of not just boxing but world sport as a whole? This is the station that made Muhammad Ali a legend that he is; where would he be had he been th

Bafana hobble back to life after tragedy

Handover. . . Black Aces goalkeeper Jackson Mabokgwane, left, seems to be receiving a happy endorsement from late SA and Orlando Pirates goalie Senzo Meyiwa. Both are former national under-20 keepers Today Bafana Bafana will try to walk the path back to normalcy as coach Shakes Mashaba names his new squad post the death and burial of captain and No1 keeper Senzo Meyiwa.  Needless to say, all eyes will be focused on the new developments in the two positions Meyiwa had brilliantly held up in the four matches which marked Mashaba's return as national coach.  The shrewd Mashaba has sprung surprise on his team selection, including the naming of Meyiwa as captain as well as giving then 17 year old Rivaldo Coetzee senior caps. But what has been clear with Mashaba's choices is that he is guided by the players' form and experiences during their time in the South African under-20 team. This is where he has marked himself clearly different from his predecessors, who were hoodw

Rivaldo fairytale was scripted by Ajax and Shakes

Born winner. . . Rivaldo Coetzee, front, celebrates with his Ajax Cape Town U19 teammates after winning the 2013 Engen KO Challenge. He captained the side Many a Bafana Bafana fan wars either enthralled or shocked by the ease with which young Rivaldo Coetzee took his place in the Bafana defence. We know that area of the team being the territory of big, tough guys, not laaities. So how did Rivaldo came through with flying colours, aged just 17? Firstly, the lad comes from Kakamas, a place 90 percent of South Africans will die without having set foot there. The tourism town with a history of poverty is mostly known as the rest spot for travellers heading to the Aughrabies Falls, or the thinly populated west coast of South Africa. Secondly, Rivaldo has two institutions to thank for his history-making debut for Bafana in Congo last Saturday; these are Ajax Cape Town and Shakes Mashaba.   Rivaldo was moulded by the respected development structures at Ajax. He got used to winning i

Time to bury the ghost of Pointe-Noire

South African teams do not like travelling to any of the Congos and Bafana Bafana, the senior national team, has a particular phobia for Pointe-Noire, a port in the smaller Congo. Our team team is heading there today, to face the leaders of Group A in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on Saturday. Back in 1997 SA was still inexperienced in international football, after our readmission five years earlier. On that fateful day, 6 April 1997, Bafana experienced their worst acts of intimidation and open hostility in Pointe-Noire (the Black Cape) when  their players were roughed by Congo players and soldiers on the sidelines. The soldiers also ordered SABC TV crew to switch off, while defender Mark Fish bled from military assault. Because of that fiasco in 1997 the trip to Pointe-Noire has symbolised a journey into the heart of darkness, despite Bafana Bafana traveling back to Congo three times in subsequent. The SA team won two of those matches and drew one. Horror is not

Unhappy games as Asia chokes on African muscle

New colours. . . . Femi Seun Ogunode was born in Ondo state, Nigeria, but now runs for Qatar on the Arabian Peninsula  For the past decade some Asian countries, especially on the Arabian Peninsula, had been beefing up their ranks in athletics with talent from Africa. These countries, more so Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, used the power of the petro-dollar to lure gifted athletics from poor African countries and offered them "a better life" in exchange for these athletes forsaking their nationalities. Kenya and Ethiopia were the biggest targets, given their well-known talent pools in middle distance running. Though the attitude initially was that Africa will not be crippled by the Arabs' poaching, that notion changed in 2003 when Stephen Cherono left for Qatar. Kenya and Africa were shaken because Cherono was among the brightest prospects to come out of this continent at the time. He had already won the 1999 World Youth Champion in the steeplechase and set a world jun

SA's unsung heroes in track and field

At his best. . . Cornel Fredericks has done enough to be a contender for 2014 Sportsman of the Year in South Africa. There was plenty of good for South African athletics in the international arena this year, even though the overriding picture having been that of a country in recess in this great sport. The good was the emergence of one-lap hurdler Cornel Fredericks being the man to beat in the world in this discipline, having taken the accolades in all major events this year. Apart from the Commonwealth Games gold, Fredericks also grabbed back-to-back titles in the Moroccan city of Marrakech - in the Africa championships in August and in the IAAF Continental Cup last weekend. Even though he was the only South African athlete to secure a gold medal in an individual event at the two-day competition in north Africa, several other countrymen and woman raised the flag high. Sunette Viljoen, simply the first lady of SA track and field, threw another silver-winning  in the javelin,

Let Bafana revival begin

Brave new world. . . 17-year-old Rivaldo Coetzee is the youngest among several young players new South Africa coach Shakes Mashaba is hoping to rebuild the fortunes of Bafana Bafana  It's a new brave world for the South African national team after a decade or more of underachieving as new coach Shakes Mashaba begins his new tenure on Friday.  Playing in Sudan is not the kind of start any new coach with an untested squad would wish for, especially without the benefit of a preparation match in a form of a friendly international. But that's how the game at this level rolls. Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers  is serious business, more so for countries  who wish to be counted among the best football nations. This is not hard to fathom, if you look at it in these terms: for a country like SA to fail to qualify for the Afcon, then it simply means we have no right to say anything smart about African football. What would qualify us? Before benefiting from hosting the 2013 edition

Memphis shows how far we have fallen

Against all odds. . . Dutch forward Memphis Depay overcame a difficult childhood to shine on world stage. One of the unlikely stars of the Netherlands squad at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil is without a doubt winger Memphis Depay. He is used sparingly in the Dutch team, usually coming on as a second half substitute. The reason for that is clear: Depay is still being developed for big things in future. He started playing regularly at his club PSV Eindhoven only from last season. Secondly, he only turned 20 in February this year, so he still needs protected, gradual introduction to the senior national team. And after just eight caps for Oranje, he's doing all-right. Though the factors above are important to note, it is Depay's childhood which is more crucial to mention. He grew up without a father after his Ghanaian immigrant father left the family following divorce from Memphis' mother. Depay refers to this episode in his life by insisting to be called just Memphis,

Horror story for Africa in Brazil continues

Rare joy. . . Gervinho scored the consolation goal as Ivory Coast lost 2-1 to Colombia on Thursday. The African teams at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil have had a torrid first round, resulting with one of them, Cameroon, getting knocked out after the second wave of matches in Group A. A horribly ill-disciplined and disjointed Cameroon lost 4-0 to a determined Croatia on Wednesday night. The central Africans had lost their opening match 1-0 to Japan, which means they are without points or goals ahead of their last match against Brazil on June 23 in Brasilia. West Africans Ghana and Nigeria also had jittery starts, with Nigeria looking amateurish when drawing 0-0 against outsiders Iran. The Super Eagles have a such to redeem themselves in their remaining two matches. Ghana lost their opener, though their overall showing was far more decent. There's also hope, despite obvious heavy odds against the African teams. Algeria also lost their opener to tournament's darkhorse

Bafana job attracts all-sorts

Oh Jimmy. . . Former Chelsea striker Floyd Hasselbaink has joined a beeline of foreign coaches seeking to score the Bafana Bafana post. The question is does he qualify? As the serious football nations prepare for the start of the 2014 World Cup on Thursday, we in South Africa continue taking care of the troubles of our national team, Bafana Bafana. This time they have no coach, and applications are streaming into SA Football Association's offices. Safa,  though they have been exposed to be under-qualified for this task, hold the right to choose. So, for the rest of us we can only amuse ourselves with opinions about some of the confirmed applicants. Pim Verbeek - He's called Pim because he was born Peter Tim (and also Dirk) in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Apart from a largely anonymous stint as a player in the Dutch league, as coach Verbeek has dressed himself in glory largely for being the assistant coach.  Fair enough, he was at the helm when Australia qualified for the 2

Reunite Comrades with Youth Day

The ultimate. . . This old man, who dressed up for the race, feels young at heart running the 90km Comrades Marathon. The 2014 edition runs on Sunday THIS is Comrades Marathon week, as the 2014 edition of the big roadrunning event takes place on Sunday. This fact alone is lost on the imagination of the wider population of the country. Comrades is no longer in the hearts and minds of South Africans, from children to the elderly, as it used to be. Sunday is just three days away and yet the once powerful Comrades spirit is not lingering in the air, and there is hardly any discussion going where people meet, on the radio, social media, nowhere. In the days gone by the discourse around the favourites and the prestige of the race itself would be reaching fever peak these last days ahead of the big day. What went wrong? Perhaps the general mood of our society has changed in the past decade that things which used to be held in high esteem do not matter anymore. Could it be that we are

Chase on for Two Oceans' old marks

Since the miracle by Simon Magakwe last weekend when he broke SA's 26-year-old 100m record, a sense of believe has been sparked that similar achievements in South Africa could be realised in roadrunning this weekend. The targets are the two course records at the 56km Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon, which like the old 100m mark, had been up for grabs since the 1980s. The men's record of 3:03:44 (1988) has stood as stoically as the character of its holder, the late Thompson Magawana, while the women's mark of 3:30:36 (1989) is held by the legendary Frith van der Merwe. Two Oceans' 2014 edition on Saturday in Cape Town has additional appetiser of R1million for the winners who set the new course records, and Van der Merwe expressed confidence in a statement on Tuesday that her record could go. She remembers how an incentive of a car spurred her on to a "comfortable" victory 25 years ago. "The car was enough to motivate me, so the R1-millio

SA soccer mentally humstrung by CAF

Destroyer. . . Firmin Ndombe Mubele of AS Vita Club scored the hattrick which ended Kaizer Chiefs run in 2014 CAF Champions League. Mubele starred for DR Congo during the CHAN tournament in SA in January. The early fall of Kaizer Chiefs and SuperSport United in 2014 CAF competitions served to highlight the shortcomings of South African football in the international arena. Complaints about referees notwithstanding, we just don't know how to prepare for the game at this level. Orlando Pirates had a brave run last year in the Champions League, losing to Al Ahly in the final. But even then, Pirates were not a dominating force but just managing to scrape through mostly on the away goal rule until the Egyptian giants brought it to an end.  Once again, SA clubs were eliminated early, mostly due to poor preparation. After relatively pleasant trips to Windhoek and Maputo in the earlier rounds of the Championship, Chiefs came unstuck in Kinshasa, losing 0-3 to AS Vita of Congo. Re

Chan failure points to SA's lack of development vision

The future. . . Ayabulela Magqwaka, the captain of the SA under-20 team. Why was he not considered for Chan? I suspect even the Safa executive does not know him, but that's how clumsy South Africa has been with football development. His name is Ayabulela Magqwaka. In case you are wondering what's special about this name, he's the national captain for the under-20 team. So what? He led from the front in Lesotho where his team won the Cosafa Youth Cup, beating Kenya 2-0 in the final. Kenya was playing as an invited guest to strengthen the competition. Magqwaka scored one of the goals in the event which took place in December. Subsequent to his exploits in Maseru, a week later his team Ajax Cape Town offered him a contract which promoted him from the team's under-19 squad to the senior team. He was signed with his national teammate, Rivaldo Coetzee, with whom he won various youth titles playing with the Ajax Cape Town Youth Academy. Magqwaka has had a well paved

The enigma of Mayweather visit

Ever since Floyd Mayweather's trip here was announced by the South African Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula I have been wondering about the purpose of the controversial boxing champion Floyd Mayweather's visit. Well, I am not in the dark anymore because "Money" has said it himself: "I don't know why I'm here but it's good to be in Africa." Of course it's good to be in Africa, despite all the troubles the continent experiences and you got to love Mayweather for his honesty in this instance. Mbalula has brought to the sport minsitry, which for a long time had been stagnanted by his predecessors. However, the trouble with "Fiks" are two main distractions to his mission:  his love of the party and obsession of for US celebrities. If Mayweather is here to inspire somebody - youth or boxers - then he does not come fully equipped for that task. This was seen by his late arrival at the Dube Boxing Club in Soweto today. He visibly thr

Knowledge is key for Bafana

Man to watch. . . Abdoulaye Sissoko, left, shows why he's the man to mark when Mali meet South Africa today. Sidibe, Traore, Sissoko, Diarra, Coulibaly. . . these are the names any Mali football team is likely to have. Mali players are characteristically lanky and muscular. They play in a semi-professional league which is largely based in the capital Bamako, with very little organised football in far-flung regions of the massive country. Given this usual background about Mali football, what's there to fear for South Africa ahead of their Chan 2014 fixture this evening? Well, Mali beat Nigeria 2-1 in their opening match, and their tactical aptitude and aggressive approach were a delight to watch in that match. Does this now mean restless time for Bafana Bafana? It should not be. Mali is not Bafana's problem, self-doubt is what limits the host team. Fair enough, it was Mali which kicked South Africa out of the Afcon 2013, at the quarterfinals. Ironically, SA is h