The beguiling and bewildering is upon us, as the South African top-flight soccer season is finally under way. Except for perhaps Brenda Fassie, no other South African cultural phenomenon or institution has the ability to excite and depress in equal measure, and do so with incredulous smugness and indifference. On and off the pitch, in and off season, South African football never ceases to amaze.
First there is the inconsistency in patterns of play. One day two teams will turn up and use the pitch as a canvas, painting broad, impressive strokes with incisive passes, flowing movement and gems of goals. The very next day, the contest does not even amount to a match, just a stick without the ignitable end.
And then of course there is the administration, or rather an excuse for it: the yobs in suits who run the game. Since the Premier Soccer League’s (PSL) inception in 1996, a frequently mooted idea has been to reduce the number of teams to avoid a fixture backlog and accommodate the national team’s commitments. Now, in a season when the national team has a relatively relaxed programme, a cold-turkey approach was adopted a week before the league was due to start and two teams were culled. But the league’s start was delayed and the four weekends the 16 remaining teams gained have been wasted.
A defining feature of the PSL’s era has been the narrowing gulf in class between the traditional giants — Kaizer Chiefs, Orlando Pirates, Sundowns and Moroka Swallows — and the perpetual underachievers, and even newly promoted teams. In the season just past a total of five teams occupied the top spot, and of them, only Swallows had the pedigree.
This season should see the natural order restored as Kaizer Chiefs look to end a decade of drought in league titles, Pirates are exuding freshness with a clutch of exciting youngsters and new coach Roy Barretto, and Sundowns are guided by a new vision under Viktor Bondarenko.
Supersport and Cosmos should lead the chasing pack. Champions Santos will find the loss of coach Gordon Igesund, Thando Mngomeni and, to a lesser extent, Bradley August to be too much for their limited resources. They will rely heavily on Andre Arendse, John Mbidzo, Sebastian Bax and an ageing Jean Marc Ithier — all currently injured — for guidance. Last weekend saw them make a typically laboured start in overcoming a 10-man Cosmos 3-2 and on Saturday they face a sterner test in the form of Orlando Pirates in the BP Top 8 semifinal. Pirates walloped Swallows 5-0 in the quarter-finals and look intimidating.
One has to hope that last Sunday newcomers African Wanderers were not embarking on the now too familiar march back to the first division with their 2-0 loss to Swallows.
For all the players who still have clubs there are points to prove and scores to settle.
Orlando Pirates veteran Thabo Mngomeni will be eager to prove that once you are over the hill, you pick up speed. Having been part of the World Cup squad at 33, he saw no action in the Far East, and then returned to be offered a free transfer by the Buccaneers. He was linked to English team Everton and Wigan, in possible moves whose speculation evaporated to leave the dreadlocked star clubless. As his career enters its autumn, another player is blossoming with promise.
Last season’s players’ player of the year Jabu Pule is one consistent season away from what the Spanish call a rapaz ndoro, a golden boy. His minimal World Cup and early season exploits have earned him an invitation for trials with French side Olympique Marsaillies. If he leaves, it may just be a season too early for his development and a sad loss for Chiefs. His mercurial talent, like the confidence on which it thrives, is like a delicate flower. Trample on it with exaggerated praise or expose it to harsh, foreign conditions too early and it will wilt before it dazzles. If Pule can translate his form in the Coca Cola Cup to as many of the 30 weeks of league action as required to win the title, he can go in peace and glory. In the process he will have emulated the feat of the man South Africans hope he will ultimately replace as a creative force, Doctor Khumalo, who inspired Chiefs to their last league and cup double back in 1992.
The league takes a backseat to the Top 8 this weekend, however, with Sundowns playing Supersport on Sunday in what was expected to be a Jacaranda city derby. Due to all-too-predictable squabbles between the two teams the game has been taken to the Rand stadium in Johannesburg — depriving Pretoria fans of a chance to watch their teams at home. Supporters can take solace from the fact that at least one team from the capital will be in the final.
Supersport, under the tutelage of Pitso Mosimane, were second in the league last season and will be looking for their first silverware in this lucrative cup. Where else do you get R1-million for playing three games?
Additional reporting by Ntuthuko Maphumulo