Arguably the best and worst goals of the soccer season will not go into the record books after the Premier Soccer League game at Bidvest Stadium on Friday night was called off after 57 minutes with Wits University leading Bloemfontein Celtic 2-1.
A fierce electric storm was ultimately responsible for the premature ending of the match.

The mounting doubts regarding South Africa’s ability to stage a successful World Cup in 2010 were based on inherent worldwide suspicions regarding Africa’s ability to ”do things right”. This was the view expressed on Wednesday by Local Organising Committee chairperson Irvin Khoza at a media briefing in Johannesburg.

He was arguably the finest striker produced in South African soccer. The legendary Thomas Hlongwane, known by the descriptive and singular nickname of ”Who’s Fooling Who?” is no more. He died in the early hours of Saturday morning in his mid-40s at his home in Mabopane.

Wily Brazilian striker Marcos de Jesus proved the match-winner in a 1-0 success story between Wits University’s and Lamontville Golden Arrows at a boisterous Bidvest Stadium on Friday night. De Jesus had the 5 000-strong crowd in raptures after scoring a stunning 25m goal in the 62nd minute.

The Orlando Pirates players were presented with a bucketful of golden opportunities in their goalless first-leg Champions League semifinal against AC Sfaxien at a pulsating Ellis Park on Saturday night — but finished the game spread-eagled on the turf in undisguised disappointment.

Marcos de Jesus proved to be Bidwest Wits University’s saviour as Kaizer Chiefs plummeted deeper into the Premier League mire after a 2-1 defeat at FNB Stadium on Wednesday night. The nippy, Brazilian-born striker produced a goal in each half with the stealth of a jackdaw making off with a prized jewel.

Orlando Pirates gave themselves and beleagured South African soccer a timely boost at the FNB Stadium on Satuday night when they beat Nigeria’s embattled Enyimba 1-0 to qualify for the semifinals of the lucrative African Champions League.

A resurgent Kaizer Chiefs came off the canvas like a boxer of true grit to gain a last-gasp, but merited, 2-2 Premier League draw with Jomo Cosmos at FNB Stadium on Wednesday night. The Amakhosi trailed 2-0 after only 19 minutes through the inimitable skills of ace Zambian goal-scorer Christopher Katongo.

Renowned Bafana coach-in-waiting Carlos Alberto Parreira is in South Africa ”to polish soccer diamonds” so that South Africa can assemble a successful team for the 2010 World Cup. ”But,” warned the former Brazil World Cup coach in a no-nonsense statement to the local media on Tuesday, ”if the diamonds remain underground … they are of no value.”

With coach-in-waiting Carlos Alberto Parreira looking on impassively as an observer in the presidential suite, Bafana Bafana were dealt a disturbing, if not mortal, blow of qualifying for the 2008 African Nations Cup finals in a goalless draw against Congo-Brazzaville at the morbidly deserted FNB Stadium on Saturday afternoon.