Indice dei contenuti per August 2021 in Kick Off

1972 – Nick Koapeng (Orlando Pirates) 1973 – Kaizer Motaung (Kaizer Chiefs) 1974 (January) – Tony Sanderson (Orlando Pirates) 1974 (December) – Eddie Lewis (Kaizer Chiefs) 1975 – Joseph Moloi (Moroka Swallows) 1976 – Eddie Lewis & Elkiam Khumalo (Kaizer Chiefs) 1977 – no competition 1978 – Stanley Tshabalala (Orlando Pirates) 1979 – Antonio Faria (Moroka Swallows) 1980 – Thomas Ngobe (Witbank Black Aces) 1981 – Chris Ngcobo (Kaizer Chiefs) 1982 – Kaizer Motaung (Kaizer Chiefs) 1983 – Brian Goldrick (Orlando Pirates) 1984 – Julie Kaplan (Wits University) 1985 – Joe Frickleton (Kaizer Chiefs) 1986 – Stan Lapot (Arcadia) 1987 – Ted Dumitru (Kaizer Chiefs) 1988 – Stanley Tshabalala (Mamelodi Sundowns) 1989 – Jeff Butler (Kaizer Chiefs) 1990 – Stanley Tshabalala (Mamelodi Sundowns) 1991 – Jeff Butler (Kaizer Chiefs) 1992…

Ethan Brooks’ coach at TS Galaxy, Owen da Gama, admits he’s been surprised by the midfielder’s meteoric rise but has seen enough to suggest he’ll develop into a national team asset and eventually embark on a career in Europe. “When I first met him, I underestimated him because he looked so short, you know,” Da Gama tells KICK OFF. “I said, ‘well, can this boy really play in the PSL’? But I had seen him play before because at that time they had played eight or nine matches in the league and he played some of the games, but you can’t really judge a player on television, you need to see them live. “And he is short, but once we started training, I started seeing something very special in this boy…

For as long as he remembers, Andries Mosehle has been ridiculed for being the footballer with one arm, but yet he was been able to play competitive football for close to a dozen years, spending a quarter of that time in the National First Division. While most able-bodied players don’t make the cut in professional football, Mosehle was a one-armed wonder who never felt he could not take up the challenge of competing like everyone else on the pitch. Mosehle was born on the last day of June in 1990 in Brits, North West, but suffered the misfortune of having his left arm amputated before celebrating his second birthday after a freak accident. “I was run over by a car when I was 18 months old, so I don’t even…

Argentina HAROLD HENMAN: Henman toured Brazil and Argentina with the all-conquering South African side of 1906, which thrashed the pants off their South American hosts. He decided to stay in in Argentina after the tour, continuing his football at Alumni, an English-speaking football club in Buenos Aires, and within months had been picked for Argentina’s international side against Uruguay, making him the first foreigner to play for the country. Australia CHARLIE O’CONNOR: O’Connor left Durban on a ship to seek his fortune in Australia and went onto an eight-year international career, one that comprised 41 interwar appearances, three as a full international against New Zealand in 1993. He was the 55th international footballer to represent Australia. BILLY ROGERS: Rogers was South Africanborn but grew up in Australia and played in…

1 Makhehleni Makhaula was born at Leratong Hospital as the first of two kids, but grew up in Mohlakeng, Randfontein where he did all his schooling. He is now father to one having already paid part of lobola. 2 Makhaula’s mother died when he was in Garde 4 and while his father is still alive, he has never had a relationship with him. Following the death of his mother he was raised by his maternal grandmother, who also unfortunately passed away when he was in Grade 9. “It was then that I was brought up by my uncles and aunts who looked out for me all the way into my adult life.” 3 Though born in Gauteng, his maternal family was originally from KwaBhaca, formerly Mount Frere, in the Eastern…

MESSI & RONALDO’S SPECIAL DAY The world is so lucky and blessed to witness the two great players, namely CR7 [Cristiano Ronaldo] and [Lionel|Messi. It’s really not common to have two of the best ever players in world football around at the same time. The football Gods have now answered Messi with his Copa America win. Remember CR7 won his first international title in 10 July, 2016 and Messi on 10 July, 2021. So that the 10th is always blessed! By Danny Moreo, Segakwana village, Moruleng BAXTER’S APPOINTMENT I would like to be educated on the seriousness of the comments made by Stuart Baxter which led to him losing his job in India. How are they different to those made by Luc Eymael, which led to him not been able…

1 Goalkeeper Andre Arendse I was with Andre at Mamelodi Sundowns and he is the best goalkeeper I have played with. He is older than me and at the time he was also one of the most experienced guys in our team, we used to look up to him. He was very reserved, honest and a great teammate. When I came at Sundowns, it was during the last years of his career and that is why he was well-respected and was a father figure. 2 Right-back John Mbidzo I was with John at Bush Bucks – a very quiet guy and softly spoken – he would never raise his voice, even when he was supposed to get upset. He was similar to Musa Otieno – after training he would go…

Veteran coach Steve Haupt is the man who paved the way for Andries Mosehle at Southdowns Academy. “He was living in Centurion when he came down one day to train with us because we gave all kids a chance,” Haupt says. “I immediately noticed that he had one arm but he had such great feet and was very quick. I wanted to see how he handles the disability when someone tackles him hard and I noticed he had amazing balance to stay on his feet. “With that in mind I thought, ‘let me see how far I can push him’, so I brought him into the academy and played him in the old Vodacom League. He moved on to play in the NFD and achieved some amazing levels for someone…

The appointment of former Mamelodi Sundowns president Dr Patrice Motsepe as Confederation of African Football president will usher in a new era of stability, transparency and accountability. Some of the football journalists cast doubt about Dr Motsepe’s 10-point plan when he canvassed for this position. But in my book, Dr Motsepe is the man who can bring an end to the highly publicized corruption scandals by his predecessors in CAF headquarters, Cairo. Dr Motsepe will not stand for previous nonsense that put African football in the pit it’s in. Motsepe is currently struggling to clear debts and court cases facing the federation. It’s a challenge for him to get sponsorships for different projects he intends introducing due to lack of integrity in the confederation. I’m confident Dr Motsepe won’t put…

• This will be the 47th installment of the MTN8 competition since the first event was first staged in 1972. It has been played every year bar 1977, and 1997-1999, when it briefly fell off the South African football calendar. When the new Premier Soccer League was formed, the competition was done away with until being restored to the calendar in 2000. • Kaizer Chiefs are the most successful club in MTN8 history with 15 victories from 21 final appearances. Their previous win was in 2014 when a first half goal from Tefu Mashamaite gave them a 1-0 victory over Soweto rivals Orlando Pirates. Pirates are the next most successful side with 10 title triumphs from 16 finals. After that the next highest number of wins is just three by…

Lithuania – 7 Sweden – 7 Andorra – 6 Hungary – 6 Luxembourg – 6 Armenia – 5 Latvia – 5 Estonia – 4 Faroe Islands – 4 Netherlands – 4 Belgium – 3 Denmark – 3 Northern Ireland – 3 Russia – 3 Spain – 3 Switzerland – 3 Azerbaijan – 2 Bosnia & Herzegovina – 2 Cameroon – 2 Cyprus – 2 Czech Republic – 2 Egypt – 2 France – 2 Kazakhstan – 2 Saudi Arabia – 2 Argentina – 1 Croatia – 1 Ecuador – 1 Finland – 1 Germany – 1 Ghana – 1 Greece – 1 Iceland – 1 Iran – 1 Israel – 1 Morocco – 1 New Zealand – 1 North Korea – 1 Panama – 1 Poland – 1 Serbia –…

The late Hector Castro remains the most famous one-armed player to play football at the highest level despite not having a forearm after it was amputated when he was 10. ‘El Divino’, as Castro was known, played and scored for Uruguay at the 1930 World Cup final and was domestic champion with Nacional eight times, going on to also lift the Copa America twice and won gold at the Olympics. He grew up in poverty, which forced him to work as a kid operating heavy machinery, and at 13 an accident left his right forearm severed by an electric saw and permanently maimed. However, that didn’t spell the end of his sporting pursuits as he rose to play for one of the country’s two biggest clubs, Nacional, and then broke into the…

Back in the 1980s and 90s, it was normal for a kid growing up anywhere in South Africa to dream of playing for Kaizer Chiefs. But Justice Sithole never imagined in his wildest fantasies that he would be worthy of being considered for Chiefs, despite being plucked from the amateur ranks back home in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal to Naturena at the turn of the new millennium. “Me ever dreaming of being good enough to play for Chiefs? It never happened,” he laughs. Sithole had been famous for being a top sprinter in his teenage years while at school and only played football part-time for local amateur club Newcastle Osima. Yet, when Chiefs conducted trials in his hometown, he found himself selected. It came as a surprise even to him as he…

In an ideal world it should be easy for Under-23 national team players to make a transition to the senior side, but there is nothing ideal about our world. This South African Under-23 squad which is at the Olympics in Tokyo resembles our squad from Sydney Olympics in 2000. A lot of them are playing regular football for local PSL teams and that was the same with us. We also had Quinton Fortune, Delron Buckley, Benni McCarthy and Aaron Mokoena, who were playing regular football in well-established leagues in Europe. Perhaps that is the main difference. After the Olympics, naturally, these players would get slowly drafted into the senior national team squad, but often, and in our experience as well, there is just way too many gatekeepers. There are too…