If South African Football Association (Safa) CEO Raymond Hack was having sleepless nights over a news report from Rio de Janeiro stating that the imminent signing of Brazil’s Carlos Alberto Parreira as the new Bafana Bafana coach had ”hit trouble”, you could hardly have guessed it from his almost flippant dismissal of the tidings on Sunday.
It was not unlike an ambiguous medical report for Orlando Pirates after their goalless Caf African Champions League draw against Ghana’s Hearts of Oak at Ellis Park last night that ”the operation was a success, but the patient died”. Pirates produced their most fluid and pleasing soccer of what has so far been a mainly melancholy and miserable sea.
The enigma that is South African soccer was again evident on Thursday as the South African Airways Supa8 competition experienced a stuttering take-off on the eve of the weekend’s two opening fixtures. By Thursday, a mere seven tickets had been sold for the match between Mamelodi Sundowns and Santos in Atteridgeville.
New forthright Orlando Pirates coach Milutin Sredojevic is under no illusions about Saturday night’s CAF Champions League game against Ghana’s Hearts of Oak at Ellis Park. Kick-off is at 6pm. ”It is a battle of the desperate,” says the Buccaneers’ Serbian coach. ”Both teams need a victory badly to stay in contention in the competition.”
Players from a rampant Mamelodi Sundowns are poised to dominate when the Bafana Bafana squad to play Namibia in Windhoek next Wednesday is announced on Tuesday. However, it would not be surprising if a good number of South Africa’s leading overseas-based players ultimately turn out to be no more than phantom selections.
Dubbed ”Little Chelsea” for seemingly trying to emulate, on a modest scale, English champions Chelsea’s pursuit of talent via a sizeable chequebook, Mamelodi Sundowns on Saturday cruised to a third successive Telkom Charity Cup title while beating Bloemfontein Celtic 2-0 in a one-sided final at FNB Stadium.
The starry-eyed bubble of local invincibility surrounding Kaizer Chiefs after their recent victory over Manchester United was burst by Mamelodi Sundowns in the second Telkom Charity Cup semifinal at FNB Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Earlier, Moses Spandeel led Bloemfontein Celtic to a 2-0 victory over Orlando Pirates.
”Don’t go near FNB Stadium if you don’t have a ticket,” was the stark warning from the Premier Soccer League on Friday after all 73Â 000 tickets available to the public for Saturday’s three-game Telkom Charity Cup extravaganza at FNB Stadium had been sold out. Strict security has also been implemented.
SuperSport United coach Pitso Mosimane, lumped with the job of guiding the Bafana Bafana team in the friendly international against Namibia in Windhoek on Wednesday August 16, sees his role as that of a short-term troubleshooter — and he hopes he does not get shot in the process.
Kaizer Chiefs were handed a gift-wrapped second crack against Manchester United in the Vodacom Challenge series by virtue of a 2-0 victory over a lacklustre Orlando Pirates at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace in Rustenburg on Thursday night.