Mpumalanga Black Aces coach Kenny Ndlazi, who will lead his side to the Nedbank Cup final on Saturday at the Johannesburg Stadium, has at least one attribute nobody can take away. He is the only South African coach to occupy the bench when a South African national team beat their Brazilian counterparts.
Fate has dealt a cruel hand to Mamelodi Sundowns’ budding right back, Papi Mungomeni. The 23-year-old, who has become a regular in the Brazilians’ starting line-up this season, will miss playing in Saturday’s Premier Soccer League (PSL) showpiece, the Nedbank Cup final against First Division Mpumalanga Black Aces at the Johannesburg Stadium.
Mamelodi Sundowns created a South African soccer record when they reached their fourth successive cup final on Sunday after beating AmaZulu 1-0 at Potchefstroom’s Olen Park in the semifinal of the Nedbank Cup. Downs were runners up in last season’s Absa Cup — the Nedbank Cup’s predecessor.
Ajax Cape Town’s hopes of winning the Absa Premiership were dealt a massive blow at Atteridgeville’s Super Stadium on Wednesday night when defending champions Sundowns crushed the Urban Warriors 2-0. Sundowns led the match 2-0 at half-time.
In-form Premier Soccer League champions Mamelodi Sundowns eased to a 3-0 victory over the unsophisticated Curepipe Starlight of Mauritius in the MTN Champions League’s first-round, first-leg encounter at the Super Stadium in Atteridgeville on Saturday.
Football folk make the kind of throwaway remarks that would be alarming coming from anyone else. ”Some people think football is a matter of life and death,” Bill Shankly, the late Liverpool coach, once said. ”I assure you, it’s much more serious than that.”
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/ 23 December 2007
Mamelodi Sundowns coach Gordon Igesund appeared as ebullient as a schoolboy who had raided the cookie jar after his team’s hard-earned 1-0 Premier league victory over Free State Stars at a sultry Goble Stadium in Bethlehem on Saturday afternoon.
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/ 4 December 2007
Kaizer Chiefs’s Itumeleng Khune won this year’s awards for goalkeeper and player of the Telkom Knockout Cup at a ceremony held at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on Tuesday. The 23-year-old not only received the trophies for his outstanding performances, but also a whopping R300 000.
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/ 2 December 2007
After a painstaking 120 minutes of meticulous football, Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune emerged the hero as he made three saves in the Telkom Knockout Cup final to give his team another famous cup victory over Mamelodi Sundowns at a packed Loftus Stadium on Saturday night.
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/ 30 November 2007
This time last year Muhsin Ertugral was calm and affable. He was clocking success after success with Ajax Cape Town, whose players he called his chickens — mostly because of their youth. It was around this time that he was preparing for the Telkom Cup final, the first of two finals to which he led his chickens last season.
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/ 28 November 2007
Last season Ajax Cape Town beat Mamelodi Sundowns four times under the guidance of Muhsin Ertugral, who also led the young Cape team to an emphatic victory in the Absa Cup, beating none other than Sundowns in the final. This Saturday Ertugral’s Kaizer Chiefs take on Sundowns in the final of the Telkom Knockout Cup.
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/ 4 November 2007
The emerging Orlando Pirates lost 2-1 to Mamelodi Sundowns at a packed Loftus Stadium in an Absa Premier League game played on Sunday. Esrom Nyandoro scored first for the two-time league champs in the 37th minute and then Lucas Thwala netted the equaliser four minutes later.
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/ 24 September 2007
Mamelodi Sundowns were eliminated from the African Confederation Cup race after crashing 3-1 to Tout Puissant Mazembe Sunday in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sundowns fell behind after seven minutes and trailed by three goals midway through the second half.