Tabla de contenidos para October 2021 en Kick Off

As things stand regarding COVID-19 Alert Level 2,“only the required number of players, match officials, support staff and medical crew required for the sport match, are allowed at the venue of the sport match”. This means that, until further notice, no spectators will be allowed at all the country’s sport venues. Football fans and journalists have spent more than a year now watching and following the Premier Soccer League (PSL) matches on TV. Even though this has been a difficult period for everyone involved, playing all sport matches behind closed doors for the last year was a necessary step to take by the government to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus. But with vaccinations in progress across the country and around the world, it’s about time our government starts…

Hunt’s premature departure As a Kaizer Chiefs fan, I’m still trying to find closure on Gavin Hunt’s departure. I’m still struggling to find the reason why Hunt was shown the exit door. Was he bad for the team, or maybe they thought Chiefs is too big for him? He’s a very good coach, he never disappointed any team he coached before. Hunt had never been sacked in his coaching career but always resigns for new opportunities. Chiefs’ management made sure that comes to an end. For what good reason if I may ask again? Hunt came to Chiefs in the wrong season whereby the team was facing a ban from signing players, all thanks to our so-called team manager Bobby Motaung, who seems to be clueless about football. They should’ve…

1985 Dave Milton P2 W0 D2 L0 GF4 GA4 Pirates were in relegation danger in September 1984 when the unheralded Milton was appointed to help them out of trouble and guided them to the Mainstay Cup finals that year where they lost to Kaizer Chiefs via a Teenage Dladla penalty. Milton, who had coached previously at Benoni United, departed soon into the 1985 season after a couple of draws as Pirates was torn in two by the split from the National Professional Soccer League, which saw the creation of the National Soccer League. Johannesburg lawyer Leon Hacker was appointed to oversee a committee to try and resolve the split and he brought Sergio dos Santos aboard as coach. Sergio DosSantos P16 W3 D6 L7 GF18 GA24 Dos Santos had been…

DANIEL AKPEYI For all that he has done, Akpeyi has never been a popular choice at the club and now has to negotiate his way from the back of the queue. He has played the most football of all the keepers at the club since he joined in January 2019 but is still strangely treated with suspicion. At his age and with the contribution that he has made when brought in, he will feel he also deserves to get minutes. Last season he kept 12 clean sheets in 24 games, conceding 21 goals, while the previous season he played 10 games without conceding. BRUCE BVUMA Has moved to the front of the queue this term and will feel justified in wanting to play more than he has ever done since…

Paul Mitchell of Siyavuma Sports Group is the intermediary that has been overseeing Evidence Makgopa’s career to date and knows all too well what it takes to be successful in Europe. He believes that if the lanky forward can continue to develop at the rate he has so far, then he will have the world at his feet. “That is quite rare, he is a boy that has shown an abundance of confidence, plays with a smile on his face, nothing seems to faze him. I think the top strikers in the world, and in an African context the likes of Samuel Eto’o and Benni McCarthy, they all had that ex-factor. “That ability to not be afraid of anything, with Evidence he has that similar capability. He has a raw…

111 Cristiano Ronaldo holds the Guinness World Record for the number of goals scored at senior international level. The Portugal international has scored 111 goals – two more than former Iran international, Ali Daei. Ronaldo broke the record when he netted a brace during the recent World Cup qualifiers against the Republic of Ireland. 32 The Manchester United forward has won 32 major trophies, including five UEFA Champions Leagues, the 2016 European Championships and seven league titles in England, Spain and Italy. 134 The 36-year-old is current record holder for the most number goals in the UEFA Champions League. The Portuguese star has scored 134 goals and made 42 assists ahead of the 2021/22 season. 782 Cristiano Ronaldo made his professional debut with Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon and went on to play for…

GOOD MONTH FOR … HUGO BROOS The Bafana Bafana coach had plenty of detractors and nay-sayers after he announced his youthful squad for the World Cup qualifiers against Zimbabwe and Ghana, but he has been vindicated to a point. It is a promising start for him in the dug-out. BAD MONTH FOR … THEMBINKOSI LORCH The Orlando Pirates forward is ruled out for the remainder of 2021 after having to undergo shoulder surgery. It is a blow for a player who has been absent for large stretches recently. ALSO LAST MONTH… • Royal AM claim a first ever top-flight win with a 1-0 success over Chippa United on September 12. A few weeks earlier newly-promoted Sekhukhune United did likewise with a 2-0 success at Maritzburg United.• Swallows FC sign midfielder…

BANKS SETHLODI – he is club great who made sure that the goalkeeping business was always taken care of. WILLIAM SHONGWE – he was at Chiefs from 1986-92 and through that time won nine trophies. Chiefs never lost a final when he was in goals. GARY BAILEY – his name had weight when he came back to Chiefs in the late 1980s having been with Manchester United for close to a decade. WADE DU PLESSIS – he was at Chiefs for two-and-a-half years and played 86 games, winning numerous trophies along the way. Was voted Goalkeeper of the Year in 1981. BOTENDE ESHELE – the Zairean (now DR Congo) keeper was solid and a commander of his box which gave the Chiefs backline a sense of calm whenever he played.…

1 Goalkeeper Avril Phali Avril – my former Jomo Cosmos teammate – is the best goalkeeper I’ve ever played with. He was a character in the team but when it’s time to play he was honest and had a good work ethic. That’s why he went to Pirates even though he didn’t play that much. He talked on the field even though he kept to himself off the pitch. He also loves his Afrikaans tsotsi taal. 2 Rightback Happy Jele When Happy was my teammate at Pirates, he was very young and was always keen to learn. He plays centre-back now, but he played mostly at right-back when I was at Pirates. I could see that he was focused. With most youngsters, fame goes to their head, especially at a…

Highlands Park to Jomo Cosmos Jomo Sono was in the market for a top-flight status to start his own club and found a willing seller in Highlands Park in 1983, a club who would later three times come back from the dead. Highlands were founded in 1959, had been league champions eight times and were a famous name through the 1960s and 70s. Their last game in their original carnation was the final of the BP Top 8 in February 1983, when they lost 2-0 to Orlando Pirates, before the owners decided to sell up to an eager Sono. The club was originally rebranded Dion Cosmos, but by 1984 had taken on the name they have today, and would go on to claim the National Soccer League (NSL) title in…

It was clear from the start that Charles Yohane would play professionally one day. He was born into an environment whose heartbeat was football in the old Harare township of Mbare. Just about every street boasts of someone who played the game at the highest level in Zimbabwe, with Yohane sharing the same road as the legendary Shaw Handriade. Born as the fourth of seven kids, his older brother Alois also played, so it was normal that‘Çharlie’found himself in the ranks of local side Dynamos juniors, moving all the way to the reserve team until he left for Fire Batteries as a teenager. After winning promotion with the now defunct Batteries – who had Mike Maringa, brothers Gilbert and Kelvin Mushangazhike, Innocent Chikoya, Lewis Kutinyu in their ranks – he…

When professional players go through the transition after retiring, it’s a very difficult process. Immediately you have to face a different reality and that is when most players go through depression. I was one of those players. I played in the PSL for many years and enjoyed all the perks that came with professional football but once I stopped, I went through difficult times and as Africans we don’t talk about depression. I mean, you cannot be in an industry for 15 to 20 years and then ‘boom’, you are completely cut off from it just like that. If that happens, it is very traumatic. You no longer have the attention from newspapers, magazines, radio stations or TV. Everything is gone. Once you retire, your team replaces you with another…