Free State Stars’ on-form striker Diyo Sibisi is hoping to equal or overtake former Moroka Swallows star striker James Chamanga’s goal tally when the season ends on Sunday. Sibisi and Chamanga are front-runners for the Lesley Manyathela Golden Boot Award.
Regardless of how they fare in this weekend’s final matches of the football season, SuperSport United and Ajax Cape Town have a lot to be proud of. Both have had a season made in heaven. Considering that both lost influential coaches — SuperSport’s Pitso Mosimane joined the national team brains trust and Ajax’s Muhsin Ertugral went to Kaizer Chiefs — they were expected to struggle.
The presidency orchestrated South African Broadcasting Corporation CEO Dali Mpofu’s suspension, his lawyers claimed on Thursday. Mpofu is challenging his suspension in the Johannesburg High Court. Mpofu said board chairperson Kanyi Mkhonza was acting on an instruction to ”get rid of the CEO” issued by the Minister in the Presidency, Essop Pahad.
The South African economy could see a turnover in excess of R40-billion during the Soccer World Cup finals, which kick off at the new Soccer City in Johannesburg in June 2010. In an interview on Wednesday, chairperson of the 2010 local organising committee Irvin Khoza was upbeat that South Africa will host the best World Cup in history.
Golden Arrows could not have asked for two tougher fixtures to end their Absa Premiership campaign — and to top it all, they hold the key to the championship. Arrows travel to Atteridgeville’s Super Stadium on Wednesday night, where they face leaders SuperSport United, and then host second-placed Ajax Cape Town at Umlazi’s King Zwelithini Stadium on Sunday.
Orlando Pirates could be forced to face arch enemies Kaizer Chiefs in the Absa Premiership Soweto derby at the Mmabatho Stadium on Saturday afternoon without their midfield talisman, Teko Modise. The Bafana Bafana playmaker faces a late fitness test on an injured toe he sustained in last Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat against Platinum Stars at the Johannesburg Stadium.
The green carpet will be laid on all roads leading to the Johannesburg Stadium on Saturday May 24 for the David versus Goliath Nedbank Cup soccer final. The Cup committee confirmed on Tuesday the final of the inaugural Nedbank Cup between Mpumalanga Black Aces and Mamelodi Sundowns will be played 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.
It was going to take something special to win this tight Nedbank Cup semifinal between favourites Mamelodi Sundowns and AmaZulu at Potchefstroom’s Olen Park on Sunday. The piece of individual magic came from Downs Zimbabwean international midfielder whose stunning 66th minute goal earned the Brazilians their place in the final.
Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club on Saturday announced that, effective from June 1, Nike South Africa will be the official technical sponsor of the club for a period of four years. Nike partners with the world’s most successful players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Wayne Rooney as well as Benni McCarthy and Aaron Mokoena.
Platinum Stars face the biggest match of their short history when they host the African club of the century, Al Ahly, in an African Champions League showdown at Atteridgeville’s Super Stadium on Saturday. Facing the holders of the Champions League title — arguably the best and most successful club side in Africa — does not scare Stars.
Luis Renteria netted a 55th-minute penalty on Monday evening to give Platinum Stars a 1-0 win against Moroka Swallows and move his team from 10th to fifth place on the Premier Soccer League table. Stars have 37 points and with this result pushed Swallows out of the top eight into ninth place.
Moroka Swallows coach Ian Gorowa and pivotal central defender Bevan Fransman will pay the penalty for their recent penalty protests in the controversial Premier Soccer League game against Kaizer Chiefs. One-game suspensions will sideline the two men for Monday’s key clash against Platinum Stars.
Ordinarily, this time of the football season would be about which of the traditional top-three teams are best placed to win the Premier Soccer League (PSL) championship. But it increasingly appears that not all, if any, of the three teams that have dominated the PSL honours will make it to the top eight of the log.
Bafana Bafana desperately need to uncover a new striker ahead of next year’s Confederations Cup. That was the opinion expressed on Wednesday by the CEO of the 2010 local organising committee , Danny Jordaan. While Jordaan is happy with the progress that coach Carlos Alberto Parreira is making, he is concerned by the fact that there is no successor to Benni McCarthy.
The 2010 Soccer World Cup finals will do wonders to promote harmony and bring white soccer fans back to the game. In an interview on Tuesday, Premier Soccer League (PSL) CEO Kjetil Siem said South Africa will reap enormous benefits, both on and off the field, during and after the 2010 world showpiece.
It afflicted Kaizer Chiefs and, for some time this season, it looked as though Mamelodi Sundowns were poised to be struck down as well by what has been called the curse of the top-eight competition. But currently out of the top eight, Sundowns have no intention to fall foul of the curse.
The unpredictable Moroka Swallows were flying high after delivering a crushing blow to Ajax Cape Town’s Premier Soccer League title aspirations with a come-from-behind 2-1 victory on Sunday. In other matches, Sundowns beat Chiefs 1-0; Celtic and Leopards drew 2-2; and AmaZulu and Platinum Stars drew 0-0.
Money might be able to acquire a great deal, but, more often than not, it fails to buy success in soccer. This was the lesson a razor-sharp Golden Arrows handed Thanda Royal Zulu while coasting to a comfortable 3-1 Premier Soccer League victory at the King Zwelithini Stadium in Durban on Saturday afternoon.
SuperSport United remained on top of the Premier Soccer League table after a hard-fought 1-0 win against Orlando Pirates at the Johannesburg Stadium on Saturday night. Elias Pelembe scored in the second minute to keep United in the hunt for a first league title. They now have 47 points from 25 games.
Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs face up for a repeat of their recent pulsating Nedbank Cup clash in a Premier Soccer League game at Loftus Versfeld on Sunday afternoon. While it might not be of great significance in the PSL championship race, the match-up is certain to be the big crowd-puller of the weekend.
A full moon seemed to smile benignly on SuperSport United as they thrashed Free State Stars 6-1 at the Super Stadium in Atteridgeville on Sunday night and took the Premier Soccer League log lead from Ajax Cape Town. SuperSport’s new-found potency was nothing less than stunning.
The small, if noisy, crowd at the Oppenheimer Stadium in Orkney on Sunday afternoon was indicative of what those who stayed away anticipated from the soulless zero-all Premier Soccer League draw between Moroka Swallows and Jomo Cosmos. The teams stuttered their way through 90 minutes of ungainly soccer.
Just before kick-off on Sunday at the Seisa Ramabodu Stadium, Bloemfontein Celtic supporters shouted at Santos substitute players to move off their team’s bench, and they obeyed. After the Premier Soccer League game — in which Celtic lost 1-0 to Santos despite a spirited showing — angry Celtic fans had to be closely watched by police.
Lamontville Golden Arrows and Bidvest Wits drew 2-2 in their Premier Soccer League clash at the King Goodwill Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi on Saturday afternoon. Abafana Besithende, as Arrows are known, dominated the first 20 minutes of the game and were rewarded in the 10th minute with a goal.
All the talk before Monday’s Nedbank Cup draw centred on a potential final between Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns — with the gnawing proviso, of course, that the Premier Soccer League glamour clubs were not pitted against each other in the last-16 round. But the improbable did occur, amid gasps of amazement and disbelief.
There were mistakes all round — and it was one final error by hapless referee Thabo Nkosi that paved the way for Kaizer Chiefs to enter the last 16 of the Nedbank Cup with a tense 2-0 extra-time victory over Ajax Cape Town at King’s Park Stadium in Durban on Friday night.
Soccer players selected for the national team should be directly contracted by the South African Football Association, the African National Congress (ANC) said on Thursday. This would allow coach Carlos Alberto Parreira to work full-time for two years in preparing a winning team for 2010.
After the stark famine of a mere one goal in six Premier Soccer League games, with three of these matches drawn and the other three ending in defeats, Kaizer Chiefs gorged themselves on an amazing second-half scoring feast while beating Free State Stars 4-1 at a sweltering Charles Mopeli Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Moroka Swallows and Thanda Royal Zulu (TRZ) remained in the positions they occupied before their 0-0 draw in an entertaining Premier Soccer League match at the Olen Park Stadium in Potchefstroom on Sunday. Swallows are in seventh place with 32 points and TRZ are seven places behind with 21.
AmaZulu and Jomo Cosmos played to a dull 0-0 draw in their Premier Soccer League clash at a packed King Zwelithini Stadium in Umlazi on Sunday afternoon. The game started on a low note and both sides were cautious when attacking. The first chance of the game went to Cosmos striker Reneilwe Letsholonyane.
Santos recorded their fifth consecutive Premier Soccer League win when they beat Golden Arrows 3-1 at the Athlone Stadium on Saturday night. An uneventful first half gave way to an action-packed second half that saw all four goal scored. In the first half very little scoring opportunities were created.