HOW WILL SCHILLO'S RESIGNATION BENEFIT US?



Bafana bafana former captain Stven Pienaar at a press      
conference announced his retirement form                          
international football                                                               
                                                     

 On Tuesday South African Nation football team was hit by a Major blow as Bafana Bafana captain Steven Schillo Pienaar  resigned from national football. The Everton based player believes that he can not continue to play for both Everton and Bafana Bafana without out compromising his Physical conditions. In his letter Pienaar stated, "It is with regret that I wish to advise you that with immediate effect I am no longer available for selection to represent South Africa.

"After having given more than 10 years to the national team, I am struggling to balance the physical demands of playing in England and playing for the national team.

"I am proud to have represented and captained my country. I sincerely thank you and wish the team all the best for the future."

The letter was read on Tuesday press conference of SAFA as the coach was announcing his squad to face Poland and Kenya in friendlies this month. The question on everybody's lips is how will this resignation impact on the national team as they prepare to host the AFCON 2013 edition and should they qualify to Brazil world cup 2014?



The coach accepted Schillo's resignation later and assured everyone not to press the panic button yet but see this as an opportunity for other players to prove what they can offer for the national team. Should we go by the games we have played so far one would agree that the is no point of doubting what the crop of players we have can do for us without the influence of Pienaar. In the two friendly that we played Thulane Serero was brave enough to fill the gap left by Pienaar as he could not join the squad because of an injury he sustained.





Bafana Bafana players at training ahead of a     

friendly against Brazil                                            



This is the kind of opportunities that are created by his resignation, yes we cant hide to the fact that his influence to the squad will be missed, but there will be an opportunity for other players to prove their worth.  There is no player that will be called to represent the national team if he is not worth it, this is their chance to show us what they are made of, what they can really do for the nation. I request all the football fans not to panic and be behind the boys and lastly not to blame Pienaar but be thankful for his 10 years contribution to the national team.

WHO WILL WIN THE FIRST QUARTER OF PSL?



South African Premier Soccer League Log                                   
www.iol.com                                                                                      



With just five games played in the South African Premier Soccer League every fan of soccer is asking the question of who will win the first 1.5 million of the first quarter. Before the start of the 2012-2013 season the PLS management came up with a new initiative which they hope that it will make the league interesting. The new systems will allow teams to perform through out the season and not wait for the last five games of the season to give us memorable games. The teams that will perform best within 8 games will be awarded 1.5 million for the great performance shown.

The beginning of the league saw an incredible start from all teams with Kaizer Chiefs beginning their campaign by thrashing Amazulu 6-0 with South African striker Bernard Parker grabbing 4 goals in that match. We have already played 5 games with Chiefs on top of the log, will they manage to hold on to the number one spot until their 8th game? we are yet to see. Their next game is against new boys on the bloc Chippa United who claimed their first win of the season by beating Bloemfontein Celtics 2-1. Should Chiefs claim a win in that game they will be a step closer to the first 1.5m. This is how things stand on the log so far:

Absa Premiership 12/13
team	game	points
KAIZER CHIEFS	5	13
ORLANDO PIRATES	5	10
MARITZBURG UTD	5	9
FREE STATE STARS	5	9
UNIV. OF PRETORIA FC	5	9
SUPERSPORT UNITED	5	7
MOROKA SWALLOWS	5	6
BLACK LEOPARDS	5	6
BLOEM CELTIC	5	6
CHIPPA UNITED	5	5
GOLDEN ARROWS	5	5
BIDVEST WITS	5	5
AJAX CAPE TOWN	5	4
MAMELODI SUNDOWNS	5	4
PLATINUM STARS	5	4
AMAZULU	5	4
VIEW MORE DETAILS →





                   

Bernard Parker celebrate after scoring fourth goal                                  
as Chiefs humiliate Amazulu www.iol.com                                              
                            





 

I think that this initiative is a great opportunities for the teams to give their best for the teams to give the supporters what they pay for at the stadium. The supporters are always behind their teams it is high time they repay the believe and loyalty of their supporters it is time for the teams to give us their best performance. With this initiative we are bound to see great football because all the teams want to take this 1.5m home.

IS IT TOO EARLY TO COUNT OUR CHICKENS



 www.iol.co.za                                                                                                                
Johannesburg Bafana Bafana coach Gordan Igused                                              
hope to great a competitive squad                                                                        



With just three months remaining before we host one of the biggest tournament in African football here in South Africa. Due to the complications at Libya it was decided that we host the African Cup of Nations edition of 2013 while Libya will host the one we were suppose to host of 2018. A lot is expected from Bafana Bafana and their new coach by the public as we are the host of the tournament. South Africa failed to qualify for the 2012 edition which was held at Equatorial Genuine and Gabon early this year.

Early this week Bafana coach Gordon Igesund boldly said that " with little more support from the nation Bafana can conquer Africa." i think at the moment there is a great vibe in the country regarding out national team" said that on SAFA website, and went on to say that : if the boys continue with the positive attitude, we really can go places and do very well in major tournaments" When looking at the huge number of supporters we have I think that  our boys will do good if we are behind them, I mean with 60 00 people blowing their vuvuselas for the boys i don't see them disappointing us.

In the preparations for AFCON 2013 the new coach will try to give all the players that shows great performance for their teams a chance to represent their national team as he is trying to build a machine that will be able to compete against the best in the world. The coach went on to say that " he is going to give oversea players a  chance but he think that a bulk of his players should come from the domestic league.

The coach also gave praise to two his two assistants coaches Thomas Madigage and Serame Letsoka for the great contribution they have made so far in the national team so far and he also gave praises to SAFA and PSL as they have been working hand in hand with the coach to help him make a fordable team. Has the coach put his head on the table with his comments about Bafana winning the next year tournament, I mean with a demanding nation like South Africa and the poor run of Bafana in big tournament will they make it happen for the fans and the nation as a whole?

WILL BAFANA BAFANA MAKE IT TO BRAZIL

Bafana Bafana logo                                                                                                 
www.nedbanksport.co.za                                                                                        

With less than 2 years remaining before on of the biggest soccer tournament which will be held at Brazil, our National soccer team Bafana Bafana is standing a chance of not qualifying for the tournament. Since Bafana Bafana was given the clearance of playing in soccer tournaments after the apartheid era Bafana went on to win the African Cup of Nations in 1996 and managed to participate in 3 world cups as they missed out on the 2006 world cup at Germany after falling to qualify. Will we see that repeat again as they have failed to win 2 of their opening games of the first qualification stage against Ethiopia at home and Botswana away. We have recorded 2 draws and we have 2 points on position 3 in the group.

This poor performance saw the termination of Bafana coach Pisto Mosimane who succeed Carlos Alberto Pererira after the 2010 World Cup that was held here in South Africa Mzanzi were by we failed to make it past the first stage. Pitso Mosimane had a poor run with Bafana and things got worse after the world cup qualifying games then he was released from his contract. This saw the appointment of a new coach Gordon Igusend with four games remaining in the preliminary group stage will he manage to lead the boys to a number one position in the group. Should Bafana fail to top the group then they will kiss Brazil goodbye, ad they first have to make it through the preliminary group stage to play in the final group stage with other group leaders which will see five African National teams go to represent Africa in this prestigious tournament.

We have played 2 friendly games under the new coach with a narrowly loss to Brazil on the official World Cup hand out game and a 2-0 win against Mozambique. The new coach's reaction was that we are on a right tract as he is looking to build a machine out of the current crop of players he got, a machine that will manage to compete with the best. Bafana have a busy schedule ahead of the with a friendly against Poland next month and a possible friendly against United Arab Emirates four days after the Poland game with another fixture against the current African champions in November as they prepare for the next year AFCON which will be held on our home soil. This a great performance by Bafana Bafana will give them hope in making it to Brazil.

SACKED AFTER 2 GAMES

 

www.soccer.cellc.mobi                                                                      
Manqoba Mngqithi                                                                         



Newly promoted outfits Chippa United who rocked up into the PSL with a rush just after 3 years in the professional soccer, sacked their coach after 2 games. Manqoba Mngqithi who was appointed head coach during the preseason was sacked last night after his second loss at the hand of Free State Stars, as they were beaten 2-0 after losing their first game to Sundowns as they brushed them off 1-0. Manqoba Mngqithi made his mark in South African football during his spell at Golden Arrows even winning his first major cup when they beat Ajax 6-0 in the MTN final back in 2009. He then moved form Arrows to another Durban team Amazulu where he did not have a great season as a coach until he decided to part away with the team.

Following the arrival of the new boys in the block Chippa United in PSL they decided to part away with their coach as they wanted to bring in a coach with experience PSL they wanted a coach who knew what is expected of him when playing in PSL and the name that came on the owner's lips was Manqoba Mngqithi. The management was very confident that they got the right man for the job instead they fired him after just 2 difficult games. Was he really the man for the job or the management lost hope in him too soon? and when is the right time to fire a coach? as for me it was too quick to sack a coach just after 2 games. Playing in PSL is very tough a lot is at stake is Chippa really cut up for the job? only time will tell

TODAY FOOTBALL IS ALL ABOUT MONEY



www.soccer lens.com                                                
Manchester City one of the most spending teams



It was not long when football was all about the passion of playing the beautiful game. Recently money has taking the centre stage in the world of football with wealthy clubs taking advantage of the resources they have at their disposal. More investments has gone into soccer with wealthy people in the world investing in teams and also willing to do anything to benefit from their investments. We have teams like your Real Madrid, Manchester City, Chelsea, Paris Santi Germain which are willing to pay out any price to get the players on their wish lists. One would not forget the spending spree all this teams above have spend in the past since the takeover of their new owners with them speeding a larger amount of money between them like:

• Real Madrid has spend over £180million on the acquisition of their current players the likes of Christiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzima
• Manchester City have been the busiest team recently as they have spend over £9330,4million on the current crop of players they have in their disposal since the takeover of the wealthy Abu Dhabi  royal family
• With teams like Chelsea having spend a whooping  £2billion since the takeover of the Russian businessman Roman Abromovich back in 2003
• While teams like Paris Saint Germain have already spend over  €200million on players from last year since the takeover of new owners

This goes to show that money has taken over the world of football as teams spend heavily on players to win silverware. But we also have teams like your Manchester United, Arsenal, Barcelona and others which do not spend such amount of money but they have been doing good, yes some would argue that a team like Arsenal have not been winning silverware because of their tight budget but it has been the case even when they were winning they did not spend such amount. The question is that are this teams buying glory? or a team wins because it has passionate players who are willing to play their heart out for the team under any circumstances? Even back here home teams are starting to spend on players what about teams that cant afford such players. Yes every team is on its own but this big name players when they fail at the top teams go back to the so-called small teams which cannot afford their salary demands. Does spending a lot of money guarantee you success?

telegraph.co.uk                                                                     
Michel Platini addressing the European clubs of the new
rule of Financial fair play                                                      

This type of spending has sparked a lot of concerns from the UEFA Presidnet Michel Platini to introduce the new rule of "Financial fair play" that will require team to spend less than what they are spending so far. This is because of the record loss of the 2009-2010 season whereby European Football clubs recorded a net loss of €1,6billion (£1,3bn) and total debt of  €8,4bn. Some of the teams affected were Man U as one of their owners lost a whooping £121m. The introduction of this new rule does not mean that teams must not but quality players even though they have wealthy owners, just that the teams must balance their books as they intent  to depend more on their owners in the later stage because of their heavy spending in the past.

ARE WE GOING TO SEE MORE MEDALS FOR TEAM SA?

South African flag         www.dontparty.co.za          

Team South Africa left for London Olympics with huge expectation form the nation and the Government as they set the standards high for them asking for 12 medals maximum , yes it might be out of reach now but hey have pulled out  a great performance, almost matching their best performance of 4 Gold medals and 2 silvers in the Stockhom Games a century ago in 1912. And we stand a chance of jumping our own record should we pick up more medals as the is five days to go on this prestigious tournament.

The competition is nearing its end and  team South Africa still have a chance to  add few medals to the four that we already have with possible medals from the likes of :

• Caster Semenya who will be making her debut in the Olympics today in the 800 meters women race after the saga of her gender issues at Berlin 2009 world champions
• Sunette Viljoen needed one throw to qualify for the finals of javelin throw with a distance of 65,92m for her to qualify automatically
• Bridgette Hartley qualified for the semi-finals in he women's kayak single(k1) 500m after finishing second behind Hungary's Danuta Kozak
• Lehann Fourie recorded his best ever time in the men's 110m hurdles of 13,49 seconds which has guaranteed him spot in the semi-finals
• Oscar Pistorious will have another shot for a medal when he will b running the 4x4 400m relay
• Anaso Jobodwa finished second in the 200m race behind Frenchman Christophe Lemaitre, they will both b participating in the semi-finals with the 100m champion Usain bolt
• Andre oliver missed out in the semi-finals after finishing fifth in the 800m race
• Men's hockey team was thrashed 5-3 by Argentina their next game is on Saturday against India in the hopes of securing the eleventh place in the playoff
• Richard Murray finished 17 in the triathlon as the gold medal went to Britain triathlete Alistair Brownlee.

As things stand South Africa stand a chance of getting more medals should things go their way but we must not shy away to the fact that they face a stiff competition ahead, it wont be a walk on the park for them. What we should do we should keep on supporting our fellow countrymen through out this competition as we have been doing. Today our swimming heroes will be lading in Mzanzi after pulling a great performance in the swimming competition with 3 medals 2 gold and 1 silver. Can we see more medals? will they manage to set a new record for South Africa? all will be revealed soon let us be the voice behind Mzanzi