Big flop Siphelele Mthembu

Over the years SA has produced players that where billed as a future stars, instead they became big time failures. South Africa has its fair share of good promising players but most of those players have been promising for more than five years, and so far there’s no evidence of a good player. Some have not even been considered for the national team but they still billed as promising. Some are said to be promising youngsters, and are still promising youngsters at the age of 24, really now, how can you be a youngster when you already have a wife and child. One such player is the still “promising” Siphelele Mthembu. Mthembu was once in the books of Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates with a lot of controversy. Both these big clubs where involved in a “dog fight over the youngster, at the time he was 19, who was unsure of where his home is. Eventually he signed for pirates but now where is he on the soccer circuit; he was just a big flop. Another big flop was talented and tricky midfielder, Masibusani Zongo. This player is blessed with natural raw talent, he’s got skill, pace, and vision, but lacks discipline. That discipline is the reason why he is still a promising instead of a great player. However there are players who are currently living up to expectation. Stars like Siyanda Xulu, Mandla Masngo, Thulani Serero, and the list goes on. I just hope they don’t disappear into the wilderness

Defying the odds at 34, Siyabonga Nomvethe

In the 90s, there was a hit song by the late Aaliyah – Age ain’t nothing but a number, this song must be played each and every day by Moroka swallows 34 year old striker, Siyabonga ‘Bhele’ Nomvethe. I say this because many players his age have already applied for ‘football retirement pension’, but not Bhele, he instead is teaching the youngsters of South Africa how to strike the ball. He is able to outrun/outpace defenders aged around 24, he is able to play for 90 min without showing any signs of tiredness or laziness and most importantly he is able to find the back of the net without any hesitation. This man is simply defying the odds this current ABSA premier ship season by leading the sleeping giant, Moroka Swallows, as serious contenders for the league title, and he has done so by becoming the top goal marksman with 20 goals so far in the whole campaign and he has even earned himself a possible call up to the national squad. This is good news considering the lack of strikers in the squad, but sad considering we had to go to the ‘old age home’ to try and solve our terrible potency in front of goal. For how long will the ‘old age home’ provide us with their ageing stars before they complain too much? Should we expect to see a national team with players who will need oxygen masks, walking sticks and a urinal because we keep calling them up to the national team even at a very old age? SAFA please work on your youth development because I don’t want to see my beloved Bafana Bafana having an average age of players who are 50 years and above.



Itumeleng Khune(left) with his local coach Doctor Khumalo

In a recent interview with the media, South African, Premier Soccer league club, Kaizer Chiefs, number one goal keeper, Itumeleng made comments regarding the need for a South African coach to steer the Kaizer Chiefs ship. The shot stopper was speaking on behalf of he’s teammates when he said they were tired of European coaches who come and employ their European style discipline and mentality to their play. He then said a local coach can instill the “African Flair” that’s been missing in Kaizer Chiefs for some time. Now that’s a little confusing because even when Kaizer Chiefs did have a local steering the ship there was no evidence of African flair. All I saw was a field of eleven players passing the ball around and finding the back of the net on many occasions, which is really what we see a lot of in football because that is the whole point of kicking the ball around. Maybe I do not understand what he means by “African flair”, or maybe every continent has their flair. Maybe Asians have Asian flair, or there is Icelandic flair, it’s all very confusing because in football there’s the possession style of play/flair, where the team keeps the ball and denies the other team too much possession. And there’s the defensive style where the team relies on soaking up pressure and hitting the on the counter attack. So exactly what flair is Mr Khune talking about? Khune also talks about players being given “freedom to express themselves “in other words freedom to showboat. Really now Mr Khune if players where given that chance they would lose the ball easily to a team with discipline, a team who play straight forward football instead of being crowd pleasers. Sure that attracts fans but it doesn’t win you games.      

There once was a time in South Africa when two of Soweto's big clubs terrorised local football clubs.Namely, Moroka Swallows F.C and Orlando Pirates F.C. These two teams where the centre attraction and excitement in SA derbies which is known today as "the original Soweto Derby".Way before the the Soweto derby between Giants Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, this derby was the one that got the tongues wagging all across the Southern African region.People would travel long distances to get a front row seat of the Mammoth like clash between the two clubs.And they would never leave disappointed,even if it ended in a 0-0 stalemate. This classic rivalry began when Pirates was the dominant team in SA at the time.Pirates was destroying teams all over the country (in the black division) until the formation of swallows in the 1940s.Once Swallows was born power had to be shared amongst the clubs,and that did not go down well with Pirates, thus forming the great Soweto derby.Swallows had fantastic players such as Difference Mbanya, Carlton Moloi, Essau ‘Inch’ Madi and Joe 'Buick' Manana while  Pirates had the likes of Baboon Sheppard, Willard ‘Ndoda’ Msomi, and Andrew ‘Hassie’ Bassie. All these players 'set the house on fire' during that era of great football.Swallows slowly joined Pirates in the 'superpowers of SA class'. They made this clear by producing a 5-0 thrashing of Pirates in the Transvaal Challenge Cup final, which resulted in the crowd erupting in violence. But crowed violence,although strongly condemned, is just a norm in many derbies globally and it is what makes a true derby. This rivalry continued into the 60s 70s and early 80s.until the emergence of a breakaway team from Pirates called.Kaizer Chiefs. This derby captured the spark of the original derby because of the way Chiefs was formed.Now days Swallows can hardly attract a crowd attendance of more than 5000.What could it be, their drop in form, lack of big name players, or their lack of silverware.All I know is that the Swallows of then is long gone and Swallows will remain a sleeping giant.

Veteran Benni McCarthy(right) encouraging rising talent Tokelo Rantie(left)



Benni(left) and Tokelo(right) straight after the game in which both players scored

South Africa is not really a well-known country for producing top quality strikers. All the great strikers where products of the 90s.With a total 108 goals between them players like Bennie McCarthy, Siyabonga Nomvethe, Shaun Bartlet, Phil Masinga and Sibusiso Zuma produced the goods for Bafana Bafana, with Benni being the top marksman with 32 goals. Bennie in his prime possessed what most striker’s dream of having, He possessed pace, which made it easy for him to get away from defenders, skill, which he used to fool defenders, and an eye for a goal which ensured he rarely missed the target. Now at 34 Bennie is still produces the goods for his club Orlando Pirates with a total of 8 goals so far in the season which is not bad considering his age and him being overweight. Currently Bafanas producing striker is Katlego Mphela who has a total of 22 career goals so far. But the problem is when Mphela is not playing we don't have a suitable replacement for him and Mphela is just not the striker Benni was. Over the years different strikers have come and gone. The likes of Tembinkosi "Terror" Fanteni, Bernard Parker, who both gave good performances but their inconsistency led their downfall. Then theres Kermit Erasmas who was a shining star for the SA under 20 national team, but a big flop for the senior national team. Then there’s the shock of Siyabonga Nontshinga who has only scored 2 goals for his team Jomo Cosmos. And finally theres Davide Somma, who although plays for Leeds united, was discovered at the age of 26. All is not negative though, Recently there has been an influx of potential "Bennie’s” who poses the qualities of the veteran marksman. Theres the ever brilliant Thulani Serrero who has even been named "the Lionel Messi of SA", then there’s the recently discovered duo of Edward Manqele and Tokelo Rantie, who both poses amazing skill and blinding pace, with a touch of the ever important composure in front of goal, which is perhaps the biggest contributor to SA players poor showing in front of goals. The sad thing is South Africa plays fantastic football because we are blessed with skilful and creative midfielder s who can dissect any defence, but they are not complimented by their strikers and there’s only much they can do as midfielder s.

Success story Benni Maccarthy during he's Blackburn Rovers days

South Africa has for long been a dark-horse in terms of football all around the world, and it’s even a self-proclaimed "powerhouse of African football". What South Africa really is, it’s living in the past. I'm referring to the 90s triumph on the continent which not only saw us lift the Africa cup of nations, but also produce some fantastic players who became successful exports. The likes of Shaun Bartlet, Phil Masinga, Steven Peinnar, and South Africa's most lethal striker Benni Maccarthy who is also the only South African Player to lift the UEFA champion’s league. These players made their mark in Europe by showing discipline, maturity and passion, while playing for big clubs like Charlton Athletic,( Phil Masinga and Shaun Bartlet) FC Porto,(Benni Maccarthy) Ajax Amsterdam,(Steven Piennar) and the list goes on. These players where able to fly the SA flag in Europe till their early 30s, which is usually a retiring age for footballers, and the come and finish their careers in South Africa. That's not the case with today's players, the will go to Europe and fail dismally. These players can’t even secure a deal with a big club in Europe, instead they settle for teams in Israel, Sweden, and even Russia. Whats even more heartbreaking is the mentality of SA footballers, they are so desperate to play in Europe that they will settle for any team, even if it’s from an unknown country (in football) like Ukraine because at the end of the day its Europe for them. Even if they do play in Europe they only end up being bench warmers, which results in them moving from club to club then in the end returning to South Africa being less of the player he was before leaving for Europe.And the sad thing is he returns at the young age of 24 to 26.One such player is Bernard Parker. When Bernard Parker was playing in South Africa, he was delivering a goal a game for club and country, and then he moved to Red Star Belgrade in Serbia where he continued with his fine form. Then the club went broke which lead to Parker moving away. That's when things fell apart for Parker. He made moves to three different clubs, including European giants FC Twente, before coming back to South Africa at the age of 26 in 2011, where he has scored an average of one goal in 15 games and its resulted in him losing his place in the national team. I suggest players should be sure of their football pedigree before making moves they might live to regret.

The most successful coach,Clive "The Dog" Barker

Midfield Kingpin Doctor 16v Khumalo

Since South Africas' readmission to the footballing world in 1992, South Africa has had 14 different coaches, 7 from overseas and 7 from South Africa. so far the score is 1-1, five  South African coaches have managed to coach Bafana Bafana for more than a year compared to the three on the overseas coaches side. Now the score is 2-1. Two South African coaches have managed to lead Bafana to the final of The Africa cup of nations with one being able to help us lift the cup, a feat an overseas coach has never achieved. 3-1 is the score line. Two SA coaches where able to guide us to playing in the world cup as well as lead us to a single victory in both appearances compared to just one from the overseas coaches, albeit we qualified by virtue of being hosts, but we did beat France for the first time so I'll give one point to overseas. Now the score is 4-2. And finally the coach who holds the record for the most outstanding record goes to SA coach Clive Barker, who is responsible for the 1996 triumph, first ever world cup qualification, and he helped us to an outstanding performance against the world champions at the time, Brazil, in a match where we led them 2-0 until midfield kingpin Doctor "16v" Khumalo, who was giving the Brazilians a torrid in defence , was substituted which gave the Brazilians a chance for a comeback to win the match 3-2. So the final score for the SA coaches vs. overseas coaches showdown is 5-2. Although the final score may seem a little biased because I myself am a South African, the information is 100% accurate. A victory for SA coaches is just pure evidence that SA coaches understand our players better, our football philosophy and have what it takes to get the best out of our players. Now what is required is to appoint the right coach for the job instead of appointing some random South African who is clueless. Only time will tell.