Indice dei contenuti per May 2020 in Kick Off

As soon as the April edition of KICK OFF Soccer magazine hit the newsstands, the Covid-19 pandemic brought the football season to screeching halt. But despite the fact that there were no live matches played, no open media day or press conferences as the country was on lockdown, our dedicated editorial and production team still managed to work around the clock from home to bring you – our reader – your monthly soccer magazine. Our May edition cover star is none other than Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Andile Jali, who has been a revelation since regaining his old form this season. Jali has been blowing hot and cold since his return from Europe, but this season he has hit the form at the right time as the Brazilians are fighting tooth…

The seven appearances that Lorenzo Gordinho managed in his first two years at Kaizer Chiefs were nothing to get him worried about as a youngster who had been promoted from the club’s development. Into his third season, his big break arrived, and he started getting more game-time, putting in solid shifts at the back while also getting his name on the scoresheet along the way. It all looked encouraging for Gordinho under then coach Steve Komphela, as he played regularly for consecutive seasons. By May 2017, when he had completed his first two years playing regularly, he had scored seven goals. However, midway through the 2017/18 campaign, he found himself loaned out to Bloemfontein Celtic for a year after losing his place following injury. He played more regularly and upon…

Premier Soccer League clubs, like their counterparts across Europe, are mindful of the need to complete the 2019/20 season, for two major reasons. The first is to ensure they have completed their contractual obligations to sponsors and broadcasters, and therefore can claim the money that is due to them as part of these deals. Failure to secure this money could see some clubs head for liquidation and onto the scrap heap. The second is to fulfill their sporting obligation, so that the titles of champions, top eight qualifiers, relegated clubs and promoted teams are handed out. A failure to finish the season could see then decision end up in court, with unhappy parties looking to secure what they see as rightly theirs. If Ajax are denied promotion at the end of…

Emille Baron I liked Emille, my Under-23 teammate at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. A very quiet guy off the field but a great goalkeeper. Lovers Mohlala Lovers was strong, he had pace and a muscular physique. You couldn’t just dribble him; he was very tough on the ball. Jimmy Kauleza My old Orlando Pirates teammate, a very quiet guy who didn’t like to be teased. But we got along very well. Joseph Makhanya ‘Duku-Duku’ – what a skilful player. We used to compete for the same position, but we got along and made each other laugh. Andries Sebola Our super sub. He was never grumpy, give him a chance to play and he would deliver the goods.…

In his playing days, Willem Vries literally carried Bloemfontein Celtic on his shoulders and it was not surprising that through captaining the club he also held the record for most appearances ever in their illustrious history. Up until 2018 he held the club record for most starts at 306 until he was overtaken by Cameroon goalkeeper Patrick Tignyemb. Vries embodied the true definition of what loyalty is about in football and after arriving from amateur club Mighty Commodores, only played for Celtic through all his professional football playing career, which stretched from 1991 to 2004, when he was forced to hang his boots. For a solid decade that included helping the club to promotion from the National First Division, he was a regular under whoever was in charge, be it…

1 Chippa United goalkeeper Veli Mothwa was born in Mamelodi East, Pretoria as the fifth born of six kids – four boys and two girls. Though all six share the same mother, they have different fathers. 2 His siblings are George, the first born, who works in a mine in Rustenburg, Mpho, who is employed at PRASA and stays in Pretoria North, Thabang, who works at a supermarket chain store in Pretoria, and finally Mphumzeli and Lesego. 3 Mothwa uses his mother’s surname as he has never known his father. He only got to meet his biological mother after turning 18, having been brought up by his grandmother. “I wish I could explain all of this, but I just can’t because nothing was ever made clear enough to me to…

When Vincent Pule arrived at African Warriors during the winter of 2012, the man in charge at the club was coach Thami Ngubane, who still thinks highly of him up to this day. “I could see from the first day that the boy has something in him because he showed it,” Ngubane says. “I already knew that this is a boy I want after just two or three touches on the first day that he came. In signing him, I was taking a chance, but doing so based on what I had seen in him. “Remember, when I got my chance at Warriors, I was coming from a background of development, so I knew how to identify talent already. It was very easy to dismiss him based on his slim body…

04/08/19 – Highlands Park (away, 2-3) Manyama header, Manyama shot, Mathoho shot 10/08/19 – Black Leopards (home, 1-0) Mathoho header 24/08/19 – SuperSport United (home, 1-1) Nurkovic shot 27/08/19 – Cape Town City (away, 1-2) Cardoso header, Baccus shot 14/09/19 – Polokwane City (home, 0-1) 24/09/19 – AmaZulu (away, 0-2) Castro tap in, Billiat shot 28/09/19 – Baroka (home, 1-0) Manyama tap in 01/10/19 – Golden Arrows (home, 2-0) Cardoso penalty, Sibisi own goal 27/10/19 – Mamelodi Sundowns (away, 0-2) Nurkovic tap in, Nurkovic shot 06/11/19 – Chippa United (away, 0-2) Zuma shot, Zuma shot 09/11/19 – Orlando Pirates (home, 3-2) Nyauza own goal, Castro header, Cardoso penalty 27/11/19 – Stellenbosch (away, 0-4) Ngezana header, Nurkovic header, Nurkovic header, Zuma shot 07/12/19 – Bloemfontein Celtic (home, 5-3) Nurkovic shot, Nurkovic…

Lorenzo Gordinho is the son of former Orlando Pirates and Benoni United defender Manny Faria and has a younger brother, Anthony Gordinho, who also plays football but has been battling to make inroads into the professional ranks. “When we were growing up, my father was more involved because he was trying to help us,” Lorenzo says. “But the older we got as we got into professional set-ups, he started being in the background, but we still talk about games especially after he has watched me. Having played football, he kept his distance when we got to the professional scene because he didn’t want to be saying things that go against the coach. He always respects the coaches. “He will criticise where he feels necessary and praise where relevant. He is upfront with…

• Taking the international windows out of the club seasons and sticking them on the end, before and in the middle only. There will be few international windows but they will be longer. • Cutting down on the qualification process for the World Cup and African Cup of Nations, dividing countries into different levels of strength and turning international competition into a league style format, complete with a promotion-relegation system where only the top tier are in line to make the finals. • Hosting the Africa Cup of Nations every four years instead of two • Introduction of an African Super League, replacing the two existing continental club competitions. The richest clubs would participate in this, rather than their own domestic competition • Cross border leagues. The economic viability of…

Keanu Baccus Date of birth: 07/06/1998 Position: Midfielder Club: Western Sydney Wanderers, Australia Fans will know much about Kearyn Baccus at Kaizer Chiefs, but his younger brother Keanu has flown a little under the radar in South African football. Like the AmaKhosi star, Keanu was born in Durban but emigrated to Australia at a young age and has forged a good name in the domestic A-League, despite still only being 21 years of age. The defensive midfielder is a Australia Under-23 international and has helped the country qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games, that are now scheduled to be staged in 2021. But as he has not appeared for the Australia senior national team yet, Baccus remains eligible for Bafana Bafana, should SAFA ever turn their attention to him. He…

How those that played in the PSL, left for Europe and then joined Sundowns upon returning, fared at Chloorkop: MATHEW BOOTH – he was a useful signing on both occasions that he came back from England and then Russia. RAPHAEL CHUKWU – the last of his stints with Sundowns after returning from Europe in 2004 was his worst as his best years were evidently behind him. JOSTA DLADLA – came back from Denmark in 2004 and contributed well for all the years he spent at Chloorkop. CLEMENT MAZIBUKO – came back from a stint in Greece in 2005 and fact remains that he didn’t set the scene alight at all. BENNETT MNGUNI – returned in 2006 but battled to establish himself and then left. MBULELO MABIZELA – came back from…

Vincent Pule has already had the feel of wearing the Bafana Bafana jersey and so holds out hope of doing duty for the national team again. “I think it is normal that every player wants to play for Bafana Bafana. I have not been getting call ups in recent times and for me that is a motivation to work harder than I have before,” he said. “If I give up, no-one will call me up so I shouldn’t be even entertaining that thought at all. I need to do what the national team coaches wants to see so that I catch his eye and get the call up again,” says Pule.…

1 Goalkeeper Brian Baloyi Brian was my teammate in the national Under-23 team and Bafana Bafana. He was the best goalkeeper I have ever played with. He stopped all my free-kicks at Bafana training. Sometimes I used to ask him to give reserve goalkeeper Simon Gopane a chance so that I could score a few goals just to boost my confidence! But Brian was one of the best and off the field we are still best friends. 2 Right-back Nkhiphitheni Matombo Matombo was a tough guy and made his runs up and down the field without getting tired. He didn’t make life complicated – he was simple and did all the basics right. We also went to the Sydney Olympics in 2000 together. He was a very serious guy and…

Steve Barker coached Marc van Heerden at University of Pretoria, AmaZulu and now Stellenbosch FC. “I have obviously known Marc since he was a young kid at in the AmaTuks academy. He has one of the best left foots in the business and from a young age you could see his talent,” Barker says. “He has matured and grown as person. As a young player he maybe did not realise the talent that he had, and didn’t maximise it to its full potential. “He has become a top professional, on and off the field. He is a great family man, he loves football, trains really well every day and always gives his best. As a coach I could not ask for more commitment. “He is an example to young players,…

Back in the days when Jomo Cosmos was a regular in the Premier League, winning trophies, reaching finals and walking with the pride that was befitting of their nickname Ezenkosi, they had a lethal front-man, one of the greatest ever to come out of the Southern African region. Manuel ‘Tico-Tico’ Bucuane arrived from neighbouring Mozambique in the months leading to the start of the modern day PSL after being spotted by Jomo Sono at the 1996 AFCON finals. Tico-Tico was lethal at his best, reaching double figures in the first three years of the PSL and becoming the first non-South African to reach triple figures in the colours of a local top-flight club, going on to net 106 goals in the country’s top-flight. His stay at Ezenkosi was disrupted by…