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/ 2 September 2007
A clinical, workmanlike Black Leopards mauled and ultimately devoured Platinum Stars while winning a one-sided Premier Soccer League game 2-0 at a largely deserted Giyani Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Goals from the industrious Myron Shongwe in the 30th minute and David Makgale in the 61st minute added to Stars’ discomfort.
With a script as strange and uncanny as that penned by a fiction writer, Orlando Pirates secured a frenzied 2-1 extra-time victory over SuperSport United in the SAA Supa8 semifinal at Durban’s King’s Park Stadium on Thursday night, with much-maligned coach Bibey Mutombo emerging the unlikely hero.
Relentless in defence, Jomo Cosmos capitulated 5-3 to Mamelodi Sundowns in a penalty shoot-out after the SAA Supa8 semifinal at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane ended goalless following extra-time. Cosmos played with a cynical acceptance that their best chance of winning rested in ensuring the proceedings remained scoreless.
Looking at Bibey Mutombo on the soccer sidelines and the resemblance between the Orlando Pirates coach and the sphinx of ancient Egypt is almost uncanny. And even amid the despair and downright indignation among many in the Buccaneers camp over some insipid performances this season, the coach remains inscrutable.
Grimm’s fairytales were more light-hearted — and probably more entertaining too — than the grim, goalless draw between Premier Soccer League champions Mamelodi Sundowns and Moroka Swallows at a wind-swept Germiston Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The simmering and sometimes acrimonious dispute between Premier Soccer League champions Mamelodi Sundowns and Jose Torrealba took a positive and dramatic turn on Saturday when Fifa declared the Venezuelan international striker a Sundowns player.
Defending as though their lives depended on it during the final 40 minutes, a 10-man Jomo Cosmos secured a valuable 1-1 Premier Soccer League draw against Kaizer Chiefs at King’s Park Rugby Stadium on Saturday through a combination of true grit and their opponents’ aimless attempts to use their numerical advantage.
The only clue from South African Football Association communications director Morio Sanyane as to why coach Carlos Albert Parreira did not return to South Africa on Friday with the locally based Bafana Bafana players after the 1-0 defeat against Scotland was that he was ”remaining in England for a couple of days to keep tabs on some of the South African players”.
It was a case of beaten but not disgraced for Bafana Bafana as they went down 1-0 to Scotland in an evenly matched and uninspiring friendly soccer international at the half-filled Pittodrie Stadium in Aberdeen on Wednesday night. It was much better than recent performances by South Africa against teams with any sort of pedigree.
It was indeed a surprise when Bafana Bafana arrived in Aberdeen on Monday for their friendly international against Scotland without crafty Mamelodi Sundowns midfielder Surprise Moriri, who had reported to the team camp in Johannesburg shortly before the squad’s departure with an injury.