Sometimes referred to as the Sea Robbers, a discordant Orlando Pirates dutifully stole away with a 2-0 victory at Athlone Stadium on Sunday afternoon after being outplayed for most of the SAA Supa8 game by Ajax Cape Town. Late second-half goals against the run of play earned the Buccaneers a place in the semifinals alongside Mamelodi Sundowns, Jomo Cosmos and SuperSport United.
It was a meeting that threatened to tear the Premier Soccer League (PSL) apart as the two factions of South Africa’s professional league squared up over what one delegate called ”a legal, but immoral” bonus of R150-million that is due to be shared by five officials. The issue, however, was seemingly too hot to handle.
Demoted Mvela League club PJ Stars lost an urgent high court action in Johannesburg on Friday seeking to restrain the Premier Soccer League from continuing with games in what is effectively the second division. But, if Stars’ intention had been to win the war, not the battle, it had the desired effect.
The injured Nasief Morris and Elrio van Heerden apart, Bafana Bafana coach Carlos Alberto Parreira included all his tried-and-tested players in a 22-man squad to play 22nd-ranked Scotland in a friendly international at the Pittodrie Stadium in Aberdeen on Wednesday night.
Wolfsburg of Germany. Hearts of Scotland. And now, on a frost-bitten Wednesday night at Ellis Park, Moroka Swallows added to their list of recently taken notable scalps by beating Orlando Pirates 1-0. A 72nd-minute goal by the enterprising Cecil Oerson made all the difference.
They brought the icy, tempestuous wind with them from Cape Town — but it only succeeded in blowing Ajax away as they tumbled to a 1-0 defeat against Bloemfontein Celtic at the Seisa Ramabodu Stadium when the new Premier Soccer League season got under way on Wednesday afternoon.
On what was deemed a ”champagne occasion”, Bidvest Wits University on Monday launched a new team emblem as well as the arrival of five new players for the coming Premier Soccer League season. ”All five have been training with the squad for some time,” said coach Roger de Sa.
Premier Soccer League champions Mamelodi Sundowns discovered, to their delight, what a difference a week can make in gaining a comfortable 4-1 win against Bloemfontein Celtic as the Supa8 tournament was launched in balmy, spring conditions at Loftus on Saturday afternoon.
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Gordon Igesund says he is not surprised to hear the baying of wolves at his door after the Premier Soccer League (PSL) champions’ 4-0 defeat against SC Sfaxien in Caf’s Confederation Cup encounter in Tunisia last weekend. ”It’s all part of the game,” said the coach with the Midas touch, who holds the record of guiding four different clubs to the PSL title.
The PSL’s once-feared Kaizer Chiefs on Tuesday listed six frontline squad members for transfer in a bid to halt a losing streak that got under way last season. Players placed on the transfer list include erstwhile club heroes Emmanuel ”Scara” Ngobese, Patrick Mayo, Gert Schalkwyk, David Radebe, Siphiwe Mkhonza and Serge Djiehoua.