Tabla de contenidos para June 2020 en Kick Off

ALSO LAST MONTH… • South African football mourns the loss of former AmaZulu midfielder Cedric ‘Sugar Ray’ Xulu, who passed away at the age of 81. He was regarded as one of the finest players of his generation and had a stadium in Clermont, Durban named after him. • The South African Football Association appoint head of legal affairs Tebogo Motlanthe as their acting CEO, as he takes over from Gay Mokoena, who did not have his short-term contract renewed in April. • Bafana Bafana star Bongani Zungu is relegated from the French Ligue 1 with his club Amiens after the season is abandoned and the final placings kept as they were before the campaign was paused in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. • South Africans Thabo Cele and…

KICK OFF: How have you been dealing with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic? Wayne Sandilands: It has been a difficult situation in which we have had to adapt because the only other option is to go crazy and be frustrated. It is a real thing, but you must take it from day-to-day. Otherwise, if my family is healthy, then that is a positive. The club has tried its upmost best with regards to training and keeping us in good physical shape. The good is that you get to spend more time with family than you have would have normally. My wife has been joking that I am now a professional ‘sweeper’ because of how much I have been doing it at home! How did a boy from Benoni end…

The coronavirus brought a pause to what was shaping up to be an intriguing final few months of the season, with Kaizer Chiefs seeing their once massive lead cut down to next to nothing before the break. Chiefs at one stage held a 10-point advantage in the title race, but have been reeled in by Mamelodi Sundowns and a stuttering chasing pack who could yet threaten the top two if they can get a run going in the final weeks of the campaign. At this stage it is difficult to make predictions given that the format of the remainder of the season is unclear. Will games be played over just a few weeks in a central location, or will teams be able to travel and host home matches? Will the…

The effects of the coronavirus have been so widespread that they have had a blanket effect on just about every sector in the world, with football sinking into the list of those that have fallen victim. AmaZulu hitman Bongi Ntuli has every reason to feel disappointed based on the season that he had been having prior to the global pandemic. He has now been left wondering if he will still carry on with the form he had shown prior to football being brought to a halt. “It has been a huge disturbance to me,” he acknowledges with his voice sunk in emotions. Speaking in his mother tongue – isiZulu – Ntuli moves from initially being covert with his choice of words to letting it out, having digested the health implications…

For all the flair and artistry that defines Jabulani Maluleke’s game, it is rather strange that he is a talent that never went through any recognisable development after both Orlando Pirates and BidVest Wits (then Wits University) both let him through the cracks. All that Maluleke did in his teenage years growing up in Soweto was play for his neighbourhood amateur club Chiawelo Arsenal, before he was spotted by then Dynamos boss Mike Nkuna playing at the Godfrey Moloi Goodwill Games. The year was 2001 and Maluleke was a 19-year-old schoolboy when he was drafted into a Chiawelo Select XI to play at the popular off-season tournament, which brought together all the best talents from the country’s biggest township. “After Mr Nkuna saw me playing at the tournament he immediately…

KICK OFF: How are you coping with the coronavirus which has brought the football world to a standstill? Victor Wanyama: Yeah, I’m coping pretty well with this deadly virus. But it’s a pity and so sad that something like this can disrupt the whole world. Let us trust the authorities to hopefully find a cure, but in the meantime our health comes first so we must ensure that everyone is safe. How do you spend your time during this lockdown? I wake up in the morning, have breakfast and then after that we have a coordinated team training programme. I also have a bike and gym equipment installed in my house, so I do everything indoors and, of course, jogging and running around my house in the garden most of…

Give Pitso a break Mamelodi Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane is more often than not caught offside in the PSL law for his criticisms of the referees. Mosimane hardly minces his words whenever the middleman has mistakenly cost him the match. I personally feel that the Brazilians’ coach, who has been hit hard in the pocket for bringing the PSL into disrepute, has been wrongly accused and fined. Mosimane is a hardworking disciplined serial winner who wants nothing less than a victory in every match and contest he’s in. The interviews themselves are unfair because they are conducted immediately after the game. No quarter is given for tempers to cool down and they are denied an opportunity to gather their thoughts. In the EPL, the press conference is being held over…

KICK OFF: How much has the coronavirus affected you personally? Sphelele Mkhulise: It has affected me massively because it happened at a time when the progress that I was making in my football was evident. When we go back to the field, I will have to find ways of starting again and trying to find a way of catching up with what I had already been doing to bring back my form. But I am grateful that we have all been safe at home and following all the regulations from the authorities. The team gave us a programme to follow so every morning we are training and at least able to keep busy. My daily life hasn’t been affected much because I only focus on football. I miss football. Not…

It was rather surprising and sudden that George Maluleka will be headed to Mamelodi Sundowns upon the expiry of his contract with Kaizer Chiefs. Through all the time that he spent in negotiations with Chiefs over the renewal of his deal, there wasn’t much to suggest that it all would all end up with Maluleka leaving Naturena at the end of June. The cold facts are that Maluleka will turn 32 next year January, so it is obvious that the length of the contract and the financial figures mattered most at this point in his career. Then the desire to win silverware and play Champions League football regularly carried weight, considering Chiefs haven’t won any silverware through the last five years. Added to that is the fact that by being…

If no more football could be played this season and the final league table was decided on points per game as accrued by teams to date, this is what it would look like. Kaizer Chiefs would be crowned champions, with Mamelodi Sundowns grabbing the other CAF Champions League qualification sport. They are the only two teams who have averaged above two points per game this season. The major change sees Bidvest Wits rise from sixth to third and capture the CAF Confederation Cup qualification berth, while Orlando Pirates would go up to fourth ahead of SuperSport United. Given that the Nedbank Cup would not be completed either, it may be that Pirates are awarded the second Confederation qualification place based on league position rather than cup winners. In a situation where…

KICK OFF: You were born in Lesotho we believe, what is the story behind that? Steve Barker: Yes, my parents were both working in a casino in Lesotho at the time, though I grew up on a farm in the Free State. Obviously, casinos were not allowed in South Africa at that stage [1967] so my parents lived on the farm but worked across the border in Maseru. When my mother was due to give birth to me she went to the hospital there. You have a famous uncle in 1996 Africa Cup of Nations winner Clive, but where else did your passion for the game come from? My whole family was madly into football. Obviously Clive, who has proven himself as a great coach, but my father Lawrie also…

KICK OFF: Marshall, thank you for taking your time to speak to us. How did your journey to South Africa happen? Marshall Munetsi: When I was playing in Zimbabwe and got the call from the technical director to say that I have to go to FC Cape Town for some trials. The academy I was at was growing and sending players to Europe, so they had connections, but obviously Mr [Errol] Dicks was someone who loved foreign players. At the time he was also watching some players from Zimbabwe – so I think he also saw some videos because there were some American guys who came and they wanted to take about eight of us to America and Ohio University. So those guys at the time made videos of us…

Moeneeb Josephs (Orlando Pirates) Josephs was selected for the tournament as second choice but had to come on in the second game against Uruguay after Itumeleng Khune was red carded and went on to keep goals in the last group match against France. At the time of the World Cup Josephs was into the second year of what would go on to be a rewarding five years at Orlando Pirates, before moving back to BidVest Wits. He has spent the last two years as a backup option at AmaZulu where he has been elevated to double as player assistant coach in recent months. Josephs turned 40 on May 19 and has been in professional football for 23 years. He won 23 Bafana Bafana caps. Itumeleng Khune (Kaizer Chiefs) Khune should…

Samuel Eto’o Nationality: Cameroon Position: Striker LaLiga clubs: Real Madrid, Espanyol, Mallorca, Barcelona LaLiga games/goals: 280/162 Perhaps the greatest of them all. Eto’o started his LaLiga career at Real Madrid and ended it at Barcelona, where he is still revered as a goal-poacher and vital member of the side that won three league titles and two UEFA Champions League trophies in his five seasons at the Camp Nou. Eto’o played just three games in two seasons as a teenager at Real, having previously been sent on loan to second-tier Leganés, and then Espanyol, where he did not play at all. It was another loan, this time to Mallorca in the 1999/00 season that changed his fortunes and when he made the move permanent the following campaign, he was well on…

Back in the days, when players were generally made of sterner stuff, there was a defender for Wits University called Peter Gordon. Gordon was a battle-hardened footballer who played upfront, in midfield and at the back through his career, which started at Witbank Aces in 1986 before he moved to Wits, where he played until his retirement at the turn of the new millennium. It is without doubt that his upbringing in a poor family in Kensington, Johannesburg, and the training in the army in his late teens, shaped him into the all-weather footballer who still holds the most appearances and goals record in the history of Wits. It is now exactly 20 years since Gordon decided to hang his boots as he approached his 37th birthday. “I just thought.…

Initially my perception was that all the Leagues were halted because the associations had to understand the coronavirus situation better before resuming. They had to know very well all the dynamics around it, the risks and the precautionary measures that are required before continuing. It was more about, in general, trying to understand what is the virus about, how can it be avoided and all these unknown issues around it. In Germany they got to the point where they felt they understood it and came to a decision based on the findings and the confidence that they would be able prevent spreading it from one participant to another. Based on the confidence they have, they have decided that their league would resume. They will be taking very strong precautionary measures…