Happy Friday...Religion teaches us to revenge...Good luck Bafana

Hello to you guys!


Firstly, sorry to you as I've really had to work for my money in the past two days. There was no blog yesterday and the day before. Unfortunately, I am an employee as well, and since I do this blog for fun really, it does suffer if push comes to shove. 


I hate that I have to be away from you guys and not talk about football. Football is a religion in its own right in my book, seriously think about it. 


And no offence to any religion out there. But where there's a fast (spiritual fasting", football has it, and that's the break from the end of the season to the start. Not an easy period by any means, the fast breaks with that first kick of the new season. When others attend their different religious services, some on Friday, Saturday, and others Sunday, we have that in football. Football does do even better at times as there are midweek games to add to our already wonderful service offering, and our house of prayer are awesome and bigger, Look at the FNB Soccer City stadium.


It seems all religions share a similar problem, and that is attendances. People a not attending prayer services. Our service attendance are particularly poor here in South Africa. The recent mass congregation (World Cup) has not helped much. If there's rebirth elsewhere in religious circles, that is our footballing rebirth that should have rejuvenated our spirits and souls. Owners, coaches/managers, assistants, etc etc serve all that familiar role of Priest, Rabbis and so forth. Offerings I hear you ask? DUH, did you forget about gate reciepts/entrance fees? We actually offer even before the service starts! Some of our services offer great choir sessions, the singing lifting the spirits ever so gallantly. 


I really hope we can somehow start to attract the masses back to our services, people need to repent here in SA, all sins shall be forgiven.


Anyway, we have Bafana Bafana going for a service in Sierra Leone this weekend. And NO! We should not give them the other cheek so they slap us, NOOOO! I've heard Pitso, our beloved Bafana coach say that we are not going to avenge our defeat by the same country in 2008. Sorry but this is where the rules change: Our religious decree states as follows:

"If anyone slaps on your cheek, turn around and smack him so hard he remembers this for his entire life, so as not to repeat this act"

Further on, in our holy book, it is stated as that:

"Revenge is sweet, and every opportunity to take revenge should be seized upon!"

Soothing words indeed. So Pitso needs to repent and go for confessions. 


Sierra Leone are in a bit of disarray at the moment having snubbed their star players. The same players that helped the so well when the held their service recently in Egypt coming back with a credible draw. Another of our wonderful commandments:

"Wish unto others all that brings them misery and sadness"

And with those rejuvenating parting words, I wish upon Egypt a miserable time in Niger.


Cheers and see you soon for another sermon! 

Bafana..Pienaar and Teko's chance

Good day!


Its internationals week thus by default all nationals should be supporting the national teams. 


And that includes us South Africans. To be honest Bafana has been enjoying some of the best support seen in many years. And that is thanks to the recent World Cup held in our back yard. From a footballing point of view the WC has aided in improving the support from the Nation at large even none footballing people.


Bafana are in a training camp with the usual hick-ups. Players coming late (Mdledle) and some being declared unfit by their clubs. This is the initial squad as called-up by Pitso.


Goalkeepers: Itumeleng Khune, Moeneeb Josephs, Darren Keet
Defenders: Siboniso Gaxa, Morgan Gould, Tsepo Masilela, Aaron Mokoena, Anele Ngcongca, Siyabonga Sangweni, Bongani Khumalo, Innocent Mdledle
Midfielders: Siphiwe Tshabalala, Teko Modise, Thanduyise Khuboni, Reneilwe Letsholonyane, Steven Pienaar, MacBeth Sibaya, Andile Jali
Strikers: Katlego Mphela, Surprise Moriri, Bernard Parker, Sthembiso Ngcobo




Already Steven Pienaar has been declared unfit by his club Everton. I do smell a rat with this one but I shall wait and see if Pienaar miraculously becomes fit just after this week of internationals. Its a known trick by some established players colluding with their football clubs to snub their countries.  Sad because this is quite a critical game for us and Pienaar's influence would have been helpful. I will sit here and hope it doesn't escalate to the Benni/Bafana love - hate story. 


I am of the opinion that as this is a qualifier and Pitso having said he won't call a replacement, Pienaar should be made to travel with the squad. If he is truly injured, fine, don't play him at all, not even train. We obviously want to maintain a good working relationship with players' clubs and make sure that players' careers are as well managed by National Associations as are their clubs. 
I understand how critical Pienaar is to Everton, he is equally critical for us. And Pitso with SAFA needs to work out a plan which involves not calling some of the players for silly unnecessary friendly games. That becomes very important as well once you talk about developing players and extending the depth of you squad.

But Pienaar being there with the boys playing or not, would prove to be a huge morale booster for the rest of the team. Argentina did the same recently with Lionel Messi. They actually called him for a friendly game citing that just his presence will motivate others even when injured.


Anyway, Pienaar's injury presents a glorious opportunity for Teko Modise to play himself back into the squad. He been at the receiving end of some booing at his club. I was also at the Bafana Bafana vs Ghana game, and there were some three idiots sitting two isles behind me who started booing Teko when he came to warm up. Me being me, I totally called them off and admonished them for that. They were supporters of the other team.


Booing players does no good to the player, not even to the team. Its senseless, instead what we should be doing is encouraging him to try harder. He can still be helpful to both his club and Bafana Bafana. Good luck to him in Sierra Leone, I personally hope he has a good game.


I am not going to complain with Pitso's selection. Am just sad he didn't call Keegan for this one. He did have an awesome game against Pirates over the  weekend, shackling Mabalane for the better part of the game. Pirates fans will tell you otherwise, and that is what makes football.


Cheers and see you soon!

Heads Up!!!

Good Day!


From here on you know the weather can only get better. Its magnificent out there. My only regret is I have to spend my days stuck indoors, as with many of you!


Well the Birds aren't chirping much after the week-end results. I don't for one feel down. Just a bit of irritation in the office where I work. There's a surge of Pirates regalia this morning and obviously everyone is taking a cheap shot at me!


Once more, Congratulations to them! I understand after waiting so long for a cup victory.


I need to reiterate that no one from the Birds camp should feel dejected after losing on Penalties. We ourselves won on the dreaded lottery of Penalties against Supersport United. And believe me, no one enjoyed that more than me.


One thing we also need to be careful of as Swallows members, is the Media. These guys are the evil we can't really do without. In the week leading to this Saturday, you could swear Pirates only needed to turn-up and collect the trophy! BOO HOO! When listening, reading or watching these guys be extremely cautious with what you are fed. They continue to tell us that Pirates were the more hungrier side and thus deserved to win it. How did the measure that exactly? What made Pirates deserve it more than us? 10 years?


If anything, there's a lot of positive to take from the defeat on Saturday. We've seen that "Never die" spirit come to the fore again. And its wonderful to know that we are not out of it even when approaching full-time. Also, the second half of normal time saw us play some really good football.


Another person could look at that and take that to be a negative. And they'd have a point. We can not always rely on us coming back from behind. Its great when it happens, but we continue to put ourself under unnecessary pressure. What we did in the second half against Pirates and AmaZulu should now be transferred to the first half and maintained throughout the game. 


We now have Interweek, so it gives us enough time to regroup and work on this for the Maritzburg game. We are on the wrong half of the league table and our focus should now shift entirely to moving up the log table.


Bafana Bafana has got a big challenge in front of them, let us give them the support they need for this one. Our group is quite tricky, but I'll deal with this more in the coming days.


Cheers and see you soon

Pirates wins Via Lottery of Penalties

Good Sunday to you...

Pirates started on fire as was expected' putting us under pressure. And scoring from a penalty. Not so clear cut but Pirates needed a helping had. Truth be told Mathibe didn't help himself by lifting his leg so high. In any case he did catch Otorungu and the penalty was correctly given having looked at the highlights. We also seemed unsettled and Pirates had all the possession which they really didn't use because our defence stood their ground. When we had the ball, I thought we did have some neat passes but it did not last long enough to get something out of it.

Second half started with swallows fighting back. Mathibe out for Etafia.  Nomvethe being injured rendered him ineffective upfront but had one impossible shot saved well by Moneeb. Sad for Bhele to be injured and not at a 100% for such an important game. And also you could see Pirates players were targeting him. But the fight was back on, Pirates was really on the back foot and only a matter of time before a goal came. Pirates have nothing, if anything, we weren't pushing them hard enough. Their famed super subs of Segolela and Mashego didn't aid their prospects by much.

Haschick came on for Machapa, Nergazhe came off for Mashishi. But I've got a feeling we are short of an ideal link-up man, someone to hold the ball upfront and let the midfield come into play, but that's just me.
A cynical foul by Mahamutsa led to a free kick on the edge of the 18 area.  Sweetly struck by Ngcaca for a nicely flicked goal by Shivambu. This with just five min to go. And at this stage no text messages from my Pirates Mate who had been "texting" me for the better part of the game. GOTCHA!!!

Extra time starts with us giving Pirates some space, worryingly! But as the game went on we got back into it. We had a break with Bhele intercepting play, feeding Haschick who delayed with his final ball and eventually losing it.

Second Half of extra time Pirates had a kick about, nothing that worried us. And of course to the lottery that is Penalties.

At this stage we could not continue to embarrass Pirates. Ten years is way too long a time for any team to wait for a cup. Especially when you regard yourself a big team!

"Congratulations to Pirates....Penalties are part and parcel of the Football game, thus any team that wins via the lottery that is PENALTIES should celebrate, But equally no team that looses via PENALTY shoot-outs should feel any dejection whatsoever!!!"

But more importantly well played to my boys, am not disappointed at all. It was quite a spectacle to watch and you added immensely to that!

Spot on Coach with your tactics...And Nobody in the Swallows camp should feel dejected at all. Collectively you guys had a good game.

We now go for a very long period with-out proper football. Its internationals' week (interweek), so we shift our focus to Bafana Bafana.

Cheers and see you soon

Birds vs Pirates preview....Tonight we conquer!!!

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Marianne Williamson gave us those  beautiful words. I usually love my own quotes, nothing wrong in getting a helping hand now and again.

To the boys down in Durban: T

"Tonight we conquer!!!"

With or without Nomvethe, I am nervous in anticipation of a victory tonight and won't write much today.

 

Football Rebirth...Nothing bigger than this

Hello, hello, hellooo!

A wonderful Football Friday today, absolutely amazing weather. So you must be clad in you football gear, that famous maroon and white.

Today is the day before the big day, that makes this a bigger day as well. The start of awesome days ahead, back to normality for two days. Anything goes on these days, partying, eating, boozing and a good old family time for some of us.

There was no blog yesterday, sorry to you my loyal readers. And there's a perfectly perfect explanation for yesterdays' mishap. It just set in yesterday that I won't make it to Durban for the game tomorrow. And so being the adult that I am, I was really grumpy and started throwing all of my toys out of the pram.
That took me a while, by the time I was done throwing tantrums it was late for a blog and honestly my inspiration had gone by then.

Tomorrow is, in football terms, the equivalent of Nelson Mandela's release in prison, dead serious! It even took Madiba less, three years less, than it took for witnessing a final between two great GIANTS of South African football, (Moroka Swallows being the bigger GIANT of the two). Thirty years, football in South Africa has been deprived of its privileges, its freedom and true pleasures. In fact Madiba himself has not witnessed the final between these two, having been incarcerated by the time of the last final.

We shall wait no more fellow mortals!!

Tomorrow, the Beautiful Dube Birds and Orlando Pirates come against each other in the Final of the MTN8.

"Where two bulls clash, no grass shall grow"

So said the elders, they of course knew better. The grounds man in Durban will eventually have work to do on Monday. It will be a legendary clash tomorrow. The last final between the two, 1980, inspired the likes of Doctor Khumalo himself to become something of an icon in South African football. Then a thirteen year old Doctor was part of the Swallows academy and curtain raised for these two awesome giants in that final. So believe me when I say football is being reborn, legends will be built.

Hope is finally here, just as it was when Madiba was released from prison that many years ago.

Pirates are under tremendous amount of pressure as they have made themselves averse to cup finals, let alone winning a cup, this decade. Their fans will throw tantrums the moment things don't go their way, I hope they don't throw missiles as did the Other team's fans when they lost to the same Orlando Pirates last Sunday.

Pirates fans continue to boo Teko Modise and for what exactly? How is that helping him, or you club? Let me set the record straight here:

"Teko is a victim of the Other Team's fans, the same team the lost to you on Sunday. This started when he was with Bafana Bafana, and they jeered when he lost his form. They know Teko is a good player and plays for a better team than theirs. Dumb Pirates fans picked up the baton and this is continuing at club level."

No golden egg for Pirates then if that continues, ten more years they'll wait. Tomorrow will see the Birds enjoy more support from the rest of the Nation. I think we'll have support from the Other team's fans as well. Try as hard as they might, they won't jinx it for us! We'll be flying high over those dead bones!!!

So here's to the Birds. Tomorrow South Africa will be at a stand still between 20:00 and midnight. Have fun watching the game.

Nomvethe injured, Lefa Trains...1980 revisited

Good day!

Not the best of mornings, the weather is been acting up recently, nothing we can do much about. And today we've got bad news and a bit of good news.

First the good news. Lefa Tsutslupa was back at training on Tuesday, which is really good news. Just that he is back is good news. He's the captain of the team, he's a good player. I can't tell you how much we missed him, but I know we could have used his services in some of our past games.
He is back but obviously not match fit and correctly the coach will not want to use him on Saturday. We've come so far already without him. Saturday will be a high stakes game, he might be behind the pace and it is unnecessary to put any pressure on a player just coming back from injury.

Now 50% of the price money on Saturday will go to the players when the cup is won. Lefa mention on our official site that:

"This cup will go to the hungrier team, and I believe that will be Swallows"

That should not be the only incentive for the players. Wining the cup for football's sake should always be the primary motive, wining for the supporters should come in close second. The rest is a bonus for them and they can do as the please with it. But remember boys, your careers are fairly short, take you wining's and invest properly. Consult a financial adviser if you are unsure.

By the way, the must be about three thing that really interest man in life:

• Sport
• Money
• Woman

I blog about sport, am married and just talked about money (of which I don't have) a few sentences back.

 

To the bad news, Siyabonga Nomvethe has had to go through surgery yesterday. Not exciting news at all. He's been our focal point of attack. As stand-in captain, he's really lead from the front, quite literally. Nomvethe looks to me like a captain that wants to lead by deeds and he's been doing that pretty well. So if he doesn't make it for Saturday, it won't be a train smash but we'll miss another very useful player.

Get Better soon Bhele!!!

Those that don't know, the last time Pirates played us in a cup final was in 1980. That was the Mainstay Cup final that Pirates won. No final has ever been played by us and Pirates since then. Thanks mostly to Pirates choking when called to duty. So the final in Durban takes on a huge importance, because those days of Ace Mnini, Vadar Mophosho and the like of Jomo Sono from the Ghost side needs to be brought back to live. Football is starting to take form, to follow the natural progression.

Swallows vs Pirates in any final in a natural progression.

Cheers and see you soon.