Kick Off June 2021

When then Gauteng Premier Tokyo Sexwale and the newly appointed Premier Soccer League CEO Trevor Phillips raised a toast and celebrated the launch of the newly-formed PSL in August 1996, no-one would have predicted that the 25th season of the League would be played behind closed doors with no fans allowed to watch any of the matches. And here we are today – supporters and media alike – watching a historic 25th season coming to an end from the comfort of our homes instead of being at the stadiums due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And all this unfolded without much fanfare. For many of us who are old enough to remember, the 1996/97 season launch was a big deal following 10 years of the semi-professional National Soccer League (NSL) First…

Broos will not solve Bafana problems While Hugo Broos is a decent coach, he will not solve Bafana Bafana’s immediate problems. Depending on how SAFA treat him, he may not succeed at all. Our football problems are vast and run deep. South Africa is excellent at being inconsistent. From organising a World Cup to failing to arrange proper kit. A coach is not our biggest problem, but coaching and training players is. Bad administration worsens our predicament. Besides SuperSport United, which PSL team has a proper youth academy? Does Ikamva [home of the now defunct Ajax Cape Town] still function properly? PSL players get coached by three or four coaches per season, will we ever have the national identity of football that people want? Molefe Ntseki was under-experienced for the…

GOOD MONTH FOR … AMAZULU AmaZulu won the Q-Innovation Quarter 3 and pocketed R1.5-million, but perhaps more importantly they managed to retain the services of coach Benni McCarthy with SAFA sniffing around for his services. CAF Champions League football could also be heading to Durban next season. BAD MONTH FOR … PERCY TAU The Bafana Bafana forward was essentially frozen out at his English Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion after returning from the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in March. His future there looks uncertain. WORDS: “I would fight to the death for him. I couldn’t join him at Chelsea, but I always said I would play for him the day I left Manchester United. Conte told me very directly: ‘If you don’t work in training you won’t…

Three years into his stay at Kaizer Chiefs, what does Khama Billiat have to In what should fundamentally be the measure of success, which is winning trophies, the Zimbabwean international will be disappointed that he has failed to tick any of the silverware boxes. The only thing positive about his stay in Naturena is that figures in his bank account have ballooned as he is reportedly the highest earner in domestic football. Fair and fine. However, the question that is refusing to go away, hangs on what he has brought to the club and if he has done enough to warrant a continuation of his stay further than the three years already spent at the club. Considering the reported telephone number figures that he is earning, has the investment in…

For all his struggles and troubles at Kaizer Chiefs, there is no doubt that Khama Billiat remains an important figure Warriors set-up. Barring injury, Billiat will be on the flight to cameroon for his third consecutive apperance at the Africa Cup of Nations finals early next year. The 30-year-old missed the last two qualifiers against Botswana and Zambia due to injury, but he will definitely be needed by Zdravko Logarusic, the Warriors coach. “I had a chat with him when we were in Algeria,” says national team assistant Lloyd Chitembwe, who also coached him while at CAPS United just prior to joining Ajax Cape Town in 2010. “I think what he is going through is normal considering his status in football, especially in South Africa where there is so much attention on…

As has become the norm at Orlando Pirates through the years, their head coach Josef Zinnbauer will come under severe scrutiny when the curtain closes on his first full season in charge. The Buccaneers won a trophy, the MTN8, this season after a six-year drought but there have already been widespread suggestions that Zinnbauer was not the mastermind behind this success story. Strange, but such is the situation at Pirates. It is perceived in some quarters that the technical team powers are actually bestowed on individuals that don’t take a seat in the dugout on match day, but direct instructions from the comfort of the suites. This perception at Pirates, whether it’s true or not, has existed longer than any coach who has worked at the club through the recent…