Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2021 i Kick Off

The decision by Pitso Mosimane to bring Andile Jali to Mamelodi Sundowns generated doubts upon the completion of his first season at Chloorkop, back in the Premier Soccer League after a four-year stay at Belgian club KVV Oostende. There was the feeling that Jali would never reach the level he attained at Orlando Pirates, when he made bossing the midfield such a habit through Pirates’ best years of the PSL era when they won six trophies in two seasons. Jail only played eight full matches in his first campaign at Sundowns, something that raised many eyebrows. But his coach at the time, Mosimane, wasn’t bothered by the critics who felt the midfielder was only back in South Africa to enjoy the fat paycheque he was on at the club. Jail’s…

KICK OFF: Teboho, it’s going on six years in the PSL since Stuart Baxter handed you a first-team debut in 2016. When you look back, did you envision what you have achieved in your career at this point or was the dream simply to turn professional and see what happens? Teboho Mokoena: I honestly didn’t think I would have achieved what I have, but ever since I arrived at SuperSport, I thought I can make it big because I saw the quality that I have against the best players. At Harmony, I thought of being a PSL player, but also wanted to be a chartered accountant. I was good at maths and accounting but ever since I signed for SuperSport, that dream is gone. Why did you join SuperSport United back…

Bennett Mnguni joined Mamelodi Sundowns from amateur side Republican Brothers as a striker but was quickly converted to defensive midfielder by coach Ted Dumitru. And that is the position in which he made a name for himself, including playing in the UEFA Champions League where he came up against likes of Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo. In this edition of My Dream Team, he picks his best 11 players he has ever played with. 1 Goalkeeper John Tlale I rate my former Sundowns teammate, John Tale, as the best of the best because when you played with him, he would give you all the necessary information you needed. He was good at analysing players. In one-on-one situations he was good at dealing with opposition strikers and even on penalties he…

Fagrie Lakay does not want to dwell too long on the disappointment of the MTN8 final defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns, where he scored a superb goal as the game finished 1-1, only for Cape Town City to lose on penalties. He was one of five City players who saw their spot-kick saved, while he also received a red card following the shoot-out after remonstrating with the match officials, who had seemingly not spotted Sundowns goalkeeper Denis Onyango encroaching off his line. “We were very disappointed in the result, but overall we did well in the competition, if maybe not that game,” Lakay says. “From my side, we have to give ourselves credit, we gave it our all and our best. Sundowns is the best team in the league currently and…

Mihlali Mayambela hails from a footballing family that includes older brother Mark, who became a household name on the domestic scene following spells with the likes of Bloemfontein Celtic, Orlando Pirates and Ajax Cape Town. Although nine years apart in terms of age, the siblings enjoyed a similar start to their respective careers, and both had their talents honed by the Old Mutual Football Academy in Cape Town during their formative years. “I started playing football in the hood, playing street soccer,” Mayambela says, reflecting on where it all began for him. “I think at the age of seven I was already playing football at primary school and that’s when I started to enjoy it, rather than the other sports. “I then went on trial at the Old Mutual Academy…

UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA (2007-09) He arrives as a 17-year-old from Matatiele after being spotted at the Coca-Cola Football Stars but was daring enough to fight for a starting place right away, climbing up to 14 appearances in his first season. Then as AmaTuks reached the final of the Nedbank Cup in his second season it became obvious that he would leave. ORLANDO PIRATES (2009-14) That he made 26 appearances in his first season playing under Rudi Krol and won four Bafana Bafana caps provides the evidence about the nerve in him. He could and should have made it into the World Cup squad as the youngest player had it not been for a health scare related to his heart. He didn’t despair and grew his value, playing over 100 games…

The disappointment of ending the season on a minus goal-difference for the first time in the history of Kaizer Chiefs was exposed in the way the club conducted business in the last transfer window. Conceding 37 goals didn’t reflect well on the defensive unit, regardless of the difficult circumstances they found themselves in last season. So, in came Thabani Dube from Richards Bay, while Njabulo Ngcobo was signed from Swallows FC to give competition to the long-serving pair of Daniel Cardoso and Mulomowandau Mathoho. Dube arrived following a solid season in the GladAfrica Championship, which continued at the COSAFA Cup, and being a left-footed central defender added a new dimension to the squad. All there was to know about Ngcobo was seen at Swallows, where he was arguably the best…

KICK OFF: You have a very interesting story … can you explain how your career started and who inspired this journey? Yusuf Maart: To be honest, where I come from it’s hard to be a professional footballer, you need to work hard, keep focussed and make sure your head is in it. If you can keep that vision in your mind, it’s going to happen. You need to have role-models and the people that inspired me were the ones I watched on TV. I watched lots of Premier League [growing up] and I thought, why can’t I do this too at the end of the day? That’s what made me the person I am today, I watched plenty of football and it sparked the dream that I can be that…

It did not take too long to dawn on Carlos Queiroz that his newly-appointed assistant was better known in Egypt than him. “It was quite funny, he said, when he put my name down as part of his technical team that they knew my CV better than his. He was quite chuffed, ‘they know you well here,’he joked with me,” says Roger de Sa, whose exploits as coach of Orlando Pirates, including an unprecedented 3-0 away win in the 2013 African Champions League against Al Ahly, have earned the former Bafana goalkeeper and coach of multiple topflight South African clubs a healthy reputation up north. It was something Queiroz was not aware of at first when he asked the 57-year-old De Sa to join him in his latest national team…

Robert Lewandowski (33) Poland & Bayern Munich Denied an almost certain Ballon d’Or in 2020 after the awards ceremony was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Bayern Munich superstar Robert Lewandowski is back in the running this year and is one of the favourites to walk away with the coveted trophy. At the time of his nomination, the prolific striker had netted 14 times in 10 appearances across all competitions for Bayern, adding to the remarkable haul of 48 goals he scored in just 40 games last season. Lewandowski’s lethal form in front of goal fired the Bavarians to a record-extending 31st Bundesliga crown and the FIFA Club World Cup title during the 2020/21 campaign, while he also won the domestic and European Golden Shoe awards, seeing off perennial contender…

The basis upon which coaches are judged in football is always results, but sometimes also silverware depending on the profile of the club. After Orlando Pirates decided to throw the dice yet again with co-coaches Mandla Ncikazi and Fadlu Davids replacing Josef Zinnbauer, there will have been hope of an upward trajectory for the side, but it has yet to materialise. The role taken by Ncikazi when he joined from Lamontville Golden Arrows at the start of the season was never clarified, except for the club to state that he was joining to become a member of the technical team. It only gave weight to the fact that Zinnbauer’s days were numbered, and it came as no surprise when the German was gone before the first league game was played.…

MULOMOWANDAU MATHOHO (31) The towering defender will have completed a decade at the club by the time the current season comes to an end, making him the longest-serving centreback at the club. He has played under Baxter before. DANIEL CARDOSO (32) He provides experience and has partnered Mathoho the longest, holding the line through the most difficult of times when Chiefs were stuck in the mud. NJABULO NGCOBO (27) Based on what he did last term, he is definitely deserving of starting place but then having started slowly he has to convince Baxter that he is as good as he was at Swallows. Has a national team place at stake. RAMAHLWE MPHAHLELE (31) Though his principal position is right-back, ‘Rama’ can also play as a central defender, but injuries have…

KICK OFF: Coach Morena, congratulations on your achievement of qualifying Jwaneng Galaxy to the CAF Champions League group stages. Firstly, where did it all start for you? Morena Ramoreboli: I started following football when I was very young. We were five at home. I’m the fourth born, but we’re just two now with my one brother. The second-born brother of mine was a footballer, he loved it. I believe if he was still alive, he would have been one of the top coaches in South Africa. He was very intelligent, when you watched him, you could see he was not just playing. We discussed football a lot where we grew up in Botshabelo, a place in Bloemfontein. We lived in Section E, and he played for a team in Section…