Tabla de contenidos para November 2021 en Kick Off

Kaizer Chiefs have been timid in their start to the new season despite all the new signings they have made since their transfer ban was lifted, which also coincided with the return of Stuart Baxter. The new signings – headlined by Keagan Dolly – were expected to provide the reinforcements that would lift Chiefs from the doldrums that they found themselves stuck in through most of last season under Gavin Hunt. Unfortunately, Chiefs have had such a slow start there are already concerns over whether Baxter is the right man to lead them. The biggest hope for Chiefs is the rebirth of ‘CBD’ – a partnership of Leonardo Castro, Khama Billiat and Dolly, which spearheaded Mamelodi Sundowns’ attack as they won the league, Telkom Knockout and CAF Champions League. So…

KICK OFF: This feels like the appropriate time that our readers get to know you a little bit more… Grant Kekana: I was born in Sunnyside, Pretoria where we now have the Heart Hospital but then grew up in Bela-Bela and Polokwane. My dad stayed in Mamelodi, and I think at that time Bela-Bela just didn’t have a proper functioning hospital. Though I stayed full-time in Bela-Bela with my mom and grandmother, I also lived in Mamelodi Gardens with my dad on holidays. This has all now come full circle because my dad has always been a staunch Mamelodi Sundowns supporter, so I have always known a bit about the club through him. I still have a good connection with Mamelodi because a lot of my friends stay there. both…

1999/00 Ted Dumitru P30W16 D9 L5 GF53 GA28 The Romanian coach arrived on the back of two successive titles with Sundowns, completing his ‘coaching hat-trick’ of the top clubs after also working at Chiefs. He was paired with the club’s technical head Augusto Palacios in a relationship few thought could really work. Dumitru, who was then already 60-years-old, had come to South Africa via Turkey, the US, Zambia and Swaziland and had coached in the North American Soccer League and the national team of Zambia. His stay at Pirates lasted six months. Ronald Mkhandawire P17 W10 D3 L4 GF39 GA20 A fourth spell in charge of the Buccaneers, to see out the rest of the season, emphasised the trust that Mkhandawire enjoyed inside the club. Despite all the turmoil the…

KICK OFF: You’ve had a colourful career, any regrets? Benjani Mwaruwari: None whatsoever. A perfect foundation was laid for me at Jomo Cosmos and from there I went to FC Zurich (Switzerland), Auxerre (France), Portsmouth, Sunderland and Blackburn (all England), and then returned to South Africa to wind up my career at Chippa United and BidVest Wits. I have been both blessed and fortunate, and enjoyed my football to the fullest. Before we proceed with the interview, Benjani is actually not your real name… That’s true. The name came about due to a wrong entry when my late father went to the Department of Home Affairs to register my birth certificate. At birth my name was Mpenjani! But due to my father’s heavy accent, the pronunciation sounded like Benjani to…

Women’s football moving forward The future of African football is in good hands with Dr Patrice Motsepe. When he campaigned for the presidency of CAF, one of his promises was to promote women’s football and do away with inequalities in the neglected sport. While most of the intended changes he promised are being blocked by the debts incurred by his predecessors, who left the federation in the red with their rampant looting, one area where Dr Motsepe has announced his presence is women’s soccer, where he has introduced the CAF Women’s Champions League. Preliminary games have taken place and Mamelodi Sundowns will represent COSAFA in the continental finals tournament to be held in Egypt later this year. Sundowns have been dominating the domestic Super League in South Africa and their…

KICK OFF: How does it feel to be a ‘one-club man’, and for the team that you supported as a boy, Orlando Pirates? Happy Jele: It feels good that this is a team I watched growing up and had this desire to play for. It is an honour for me to play for such a big team. I’m touched and I feel blessed that I have been able to wear the jersey of the team that I grew up aspiring to play for because of the icons that played for the club. To represent Pirates is a great considering my journey in this game. I get to be speechless because of the way it happened but with God’s grace, He has been the one who has determined this journey for…

Imagine growing up in a township where all the superstars you look up to call home and regularly drive past in their flashy cars. This is what Swallows FC’s off-season signing Lehlogonolo Matlou had to deal with growing up in Meadowlands, where he didn’t need to look any further than this area of Soweto popularly known as Ndofaya. “Teko Modise is from up the road in Zone 8 and has always been my role model since day one. I grew up looking up to him. Even in the Pirates development I wore number 11 because of him,” Matlou says. “I was never short of players to look up to because even Yeye [Reneilwe Letsholonyane] is also from another zone in Meadowlands, so these are stars that I could relate to.…

AmaZulu defender Limbikani Mzava is set to captain Malawi at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon, one of a host of Premier Soccer League stars that will feature in the continental finals while Bafana Bafana sit idle. Mzava has helped to steer The Flames to their first finals appearance since 2010, and just their third ever having also qualified in 1984. It is a big deal for the nation and a sign of a more competitive Malawi team that has emerged, in part, due to a number of their leading players plying their trade in the South African league. These include Mzava, Gabadinho Mhango at Orlando Pirates, and Richard Mbulu and Gerald Phiri Jnr at Baroka FC, among others. Powerful defender Mzava, who has been in the PSL…

The art of coaching has many recipes and like any dish, it can never be an exact production. Too many ingredients make it anything but a science and it is often, at best, more like calculated gambling. But the role of coaches has evolved exponentially through the decades, moving from an era when teams played without a powerful personality on the sidelines, to a situation where sometimes the coach is bigger than the team. Certainly, there have been no players who have called themselves “The Special One”. Powerful managers have existed for the last 100 years from Arsenal’s legendary Herbert Chapman to Alberto Supicci, who won the first World Cup for Uruguay in 1930, and the modern incarnations like Sir Alex Ferguson, Rinus Michaels and this country’s most successful tactician,…

ALSO LAST MONTH… Marumo Gallants confirm the departure of head coach Sebastien Migne after he was found guilty of insubordination towards the club’s technical director Harris Choeu ahead of their league clash with Lamontville Golden Arrows. Brandon Truter takes a two-week leave absence during which time the head coach duties at Swallows FC are performed by his assistant Simo Dladla. SAFA suspend referee Jelly Chavani and fourth official Moeketsi Molelekoa for six weeks after they erroneously gave a late penalty to Kaizer Chiefs against AmaZulu. SAFA say they will use the time to ‘rehabilitate’ the officials. The PSL say the return of supporters to stadiums is not immanent after SAFA confirmed they hoped to use the Soweto DerbyonNovember6as a pilot project to get 2,000 vaccinated supporters back into the stands.…

In the ever-changing landscape of South African football, a new tide is rising in the Western Cape where Stellenbosch FC and Cape Town City have emerged as two of the country’s up-and-coming teams. The latter already boast winners’ medals in the Telkom Knockout (2016) and MTN8 (2018) competitions, while the former are flying high in the DStv Premiership this season after solidifying their status as a top-flight team following the conclusion of the 2020/21 campaign. Both outfits were founded as recently as 2016 but a passionate rivalry has also already developed between the two neighbouring sides, whose respective home matches are played less than 60 kilometres apart. This rivalry comes to the fore at least twice per season in the highly-anticipated Cape Derby, which in its current incarnation pits Stellies…

Once in a while, a team emerges that dominates the domestic scene and in some instances, go on to become a force to reckon with on the continent with the kind of swagger that borders on arrogance. The 1970 Brazil national team, with playmakers that included Pele, Gerson and Tostao, produced samba football at its best, playing a smooth attacking brand of soccer that convinced sceptic to term it the greatest team of a11 time. Led by the elegant Frenchman Thierry Henry upfront, Jens Lehmann in goals, Sol Campbell shoring up their defence and Patrick Viera calling the shots In the midfield, coming up against the 2003/04 Arsenal team was like standing In front of a tsunami. But long before Arsenal's own unbeaten 'Invincibles', Portugal's Benfica with Eusebio, the 'Black…

The final day of the transfer window, or Deadline Day as it has famously become known, is one of the busiest days on the footballing calendar, annually attracting widespread interest as clubs from around the world scramble to complete last-minute signings before the registration period closes. Over the years, it has often been a day that has played host to some of the most notable transfers within the beautiful game, some on bargain deals and other for eyewatering figures, some straightforward and others shrouded in controversy. Perhaps never, though, has a single transaction garnered as much global attention as Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United last month. Just days before the window shut, the Portuguese superstar informed Juventus, his club at the time, of his intention to part ways with the…