Football fans are gearing up for Sunday’s royal battle between Chipolopolo and the Elephants in the African Cup of Nations final.
Two goals scored within four minutes late in the second half saw Kaizer Chiefs snatch a 2-1 win over the Free State Stars in the Absa Premiership.
Mamelodi Sundowns had their minds on Saturday’s Nedbank Cup final and paid the price when Free State Stars thumped the defending Premier Soccer League champions 4-0 in the final league fixture of the season. Meanwhile, Santos ended in third position on the league table after beating Platinum Stars 1-0, and Orlando Pirates beat AmaZulu 4-1.
Santos’ 10-week sequence without a defeat under Botswana Army coach Major David Bright was dimmed at Goble Park in Bethlehem on Sunday afternoon as Free State Stars earned a deserved 1-0 victory to qualify for the Nedbank Cup semifinals. Hero on this occasion was Jimmy Kauleza, who scored the solitary goal of the game in the 22nd minute.
The long wait ended in a fairytale triumph for Walter Khumalo when Free State Stars’ veteran goalkeeper came off eight months on the bench to instigate a tense and taut Nedbank Cup penalty shoot-out victory against Platinum Stars at Goble Park in Bethlehem on Sunday afternoon.
After the stark famine of a mere one goal in six Premier Soccer League games, with three of these matches drawn and the other three ending in defeats, Kaizer Chiefs gorged themselves on an amazing second-half scoring feast while beating Free State Stars 4-1 at a sweltering Charles Mopeli Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Jomo Cosmos again showed why they are in the relegation zone when 10-man Free State Stars held them to a goalless draw at the Oppenheimer Stadium in Orkney on Wednesday. Stars had the better chances but good goalkeeping by Cosmos keeper Avril Phali denied them victory.
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/ 16 February 2008
In what might be described as circus soccer, with the goalkeepers in the role of trapeze artists taking a couple of tumbles, Golden Arrows and Free State Stars drew 2-2 in a Premier League game that contained some impressive skills and many laughable errors.
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/ 13 January 2008
Zambia have dropped unfit striker Collins Mbesuma and veteran defender Elijah Tana from their final 23-man squad for the African Cup of Nations finals. Mbesuma, who plays in Turkey and was formerly, played last week in a friendly against Tunisia but was deemed too out of shape for the tournament in Ghana.
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/ 4 December 2007
Kaizer Chiefs’s Itumeleng Khune won this year’s awards for goalkeeper and player of the Telkom Knockout Cup at a ceremony held at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The 23-year-old not only received the trophies for his outstanding performances, but also a whopping R300 000.
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/ 11 November 2007
Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper Brian Baloyi was unflappable, stopping numerous goal-scoring attempts from the Free State Stars, as his team won 2-1 in the extreme heat of Kimberley where they played their Telkom Knockout Cup soccer semifinal match.
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/ 5 November 2007
Andre Petim, the Ajax Cape Town goalkeeper, was his side’s hero as he saved a late penalty to share the spoils with Free State Stars in a goalless Absa PSL match at the Athlone Stadium on Sunday evening. Ajax were out to avenge the 1-0 defeat they suffered at the hands of Stars, who eliminated them from the Telkom Knockout competition.
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/ 25 October 2007
South Africa claimed their second sporting title within five days thanks to a 4-3 penalty shootout victory against Zambia in the Cosafa Castle Cup final on Wednesday. The success of Bafana Bafana following a goalless draw in Bloemfontein came five days after the Springboks lifted the Rugby World Cup with a 15-6 triumph over England in Paris.
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/ 5 September 2007
With the stealth of a covert James Bond operation, the South African Football Association on Tuesday successfully ”smuggled” Benni McCarthy into the country for his first game for Bafana Bafana in 19 months. He will play in the African Nations Cup qualifier against Zambia at Newlands Stadium on Sunday.