It's time for the Birds to aim higher

Sibusiso Khumalo. Signed up by Sundowns. Gone. Bennet Chenene. Pre-contract signed. Going. David Mathebula. Pre-contract signed. Going. Katlego “Mahoota” Mashego. PSL top top goalscorer. Sundowns are negotiation. Will probably also walk out the door.

Moroka Swallows finished in 9^th place this season and will potentially lose about 3 key players. Three!

Transfers this past season included Lizo Mjempu, a leftback, who came in for free, Larry Cohen who came in for free after being released by Chippa United (allegedly for a tweet) and even Mahoota, who also came in for free. Noticing a trend?

These new players were added to other free transfers such as Roger Da Costa who came in from a US college league, Rudi Isaacs, Larry Cohen, Aubrey Mathibe, McBeth Sibaya and Dikgang Mabalane to name a few.

One of Swallows' transfer targets, transfer-listed Kagiso Senamela, although very skilful is someone who is currently not wanted by Amazulu, a club that finished in 12^th position.

Swallows has a big weakness at leftback and in the goalkeeping department. Aubrey Mathibe, a decent backup (compared to the current number 1) has just been released. One can only hope a better replacement is coming in - hope being the key word. At leftback, with Shere “Skhotane” Legkethoane as our main leftback, that position has been the weakest link this season. It can almost be described as the “bridge for opposing teams into our net”, as one tweep recently stated. With a glaring weakness in the position, who did Swallows decide to get as backup? Free-agent, Lizo Mjempu of course! That hasn't quite worked out.

Swallows' infamous leaking defence has conceded an equal number of goals as soon-to-be-relegated Chippa United – the joint second highest number in the PSL.

In the striking department there are problems too. Nomvethe is not getting any younger. An early-season injury to “Bhele” could have put Zeca Marques in a very difficult position had Mashego not stepped up to the plate to taken on the goalscoring responsibilities - with that defence, a top-of-the-charts goalscoring season was needed from somebody! The very same Mashego seems to be heading for Chloorkop. The only other out-and-out striker available is the average (really average) Mpho Maleka. So, some serious reinforcement is urgently needed up front.

In midfield, during the course of the 2012/13 season, I would often tweet about how a decent backup for Bennett Chenene was needed. Playing the relatively one-footed Felix Obada on the left has never worked. David Mathebula (although not as out-and-out winger) would also sometimes fill in and now, ironically, both Chenene and Mathebula are heading to Supersport United. The team has no recognised left winger, never mind having a backup player.

In the central postions, the golden oldies at the heart of midfield Macbeth Sibaya, Lefa Tsutsulupa and Giorgi Nergadze will have a combined age of 103 - yes, 103 years - at the end of the 2013/14 system. As previously stated, Sundowns have already taken away the much younger Sibusiso Khumalo. On the wing you can find players such as Dikgang Mabalane and Joseph Makhanya with a combined age of 66 at the end of next season.

With all these departures (departure of creative personnel, I must add), it looks like Lerato Chabangu may need to do it all by himself next season.

The point of this piece is that a team which claims to have the ambition of becoming a competitive team, needs to sign the quality players it wants and not only the players that nobody else seems to need.

This lack of investment has been a big contributing factor to Swallows dropping out of the top half of the table. In the new season Swallows fans may even be closer to kissing the league goodbye than kissing a trophy, and, well, unlike Kelly Rowland, I do not like my kisses down low. 

 

Ajax Cape Town is a good example of the rapid decline that is possible when a club (or the people in charge) continuously fail to provide good investment while letting go of key players: Ajax found themselves in a scary relegation battle this season. They were title contenders just three seasons ago. 

Da Costa recently tweeted his frustration at the recent depature of key players such as David Mathebula

 

One thing is confirmed; Swallows will not be “reclaiming the glory” of the MTN8 cup due to the final league position of the 2012/13 season. But it is now time to start retaining key personnel and also stop this approach of reclaiming the club-less, free agent. It is time to aim high...like a Bird.

Thomas Monyepao

You can find me on twitter @Tom_18Yards

The referee's view: Moroka Swallows vs Kaizer Chiefs

This weekend South African fans had a number of Absa Premier League(PSL) games lined up including Platinum Stars against Chippa United, Moroka Swallows against Kaizer Chiefs, and later in, Orlando Pirates played an important CAF Champions League match against TP Mazembe.


This week, I will be focusing on an incident (or incidents, rather) that happened in the PSL match that took place in Dobsonville between The Birds and Amakhosi.


With about 25 minutes having been played, The Birds were leading 1-0 when the referee, Buyile Gqubule, awarded Moroka Swallows a penalty for a foul by Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper, Itumeleng Khune. 


I have to admit that from the television replays, I was not as convinced as the commentators were that there was indeed contact from Khune's trailing leg. But as Paul Dirkin once said: "Although television can give you 15 different angles, the only angle they can’t show is the referee’s."  I will have to give the benefit of the doubt to referee Gqubule for seeing that incident.


From the ensuing penalty kick, Swallow's leading goalscorer, Katlego Mashego, scored. In other words, the ball entered the goal.  However, referee, Gqubule, then proceeded to order a retake for an encroachment.  According to the Laws, a player is guilty of encroachment if he/she is not located "at least 9.15m (10 yds) from the penalty mark".  Law 14 also states: "If the referee gives the signal for a penalty kick to be taken and (before the ball is in play) a team-mate of the player taking the kick infringes the Laws of the Game, the referee allows the kick to be taken.  If the ball enters the goal, the kick is retaken."  


Mashego then scored the resultant penalty kick retake.  However, this time, a player from the attacking team (Swallows in this case) as well as from the defending team were guilty of encroachment.  I will refer to Law 14 again, which says: "If the referee gives the signal for a penalty kick to be taken and, before the ball is in play, a player of both the defending team and the attacking team infringe the Laws of the Game, the kick is retaken."  Simple and clear.  The referee was correct to order a retake of the penalty kick.


The third penalty kick was then saved by the Kaizer Chiefs goalkeeper leaving the Swallows players and their technical team frustrated.  


A look at the third penalty kick will show us that thw Kaizer Chiefs keeper moved off his line before the kick was taken.  Law 14 states: "The defending goalkeeper must remain on his goal line, facing the kicker, between the goalposts until the ball is kicked."  The Laws also clearly say that if the goalkeeper infringes the Laws of the Game and the ball does not enter the goal, as in this case, the kick is retaken.  


Without even making use of replays, it was clear to me that Khune had moved off his line for at least two of the three penalty kicks, with the linesman failing to flag for this offence on all occasions.  Law 6 tells us that it is the duty of the assistant referee at penalty kicks to indicate whether the goalkeeper moves off the goal line before the ball is kicked. The assistant referee failed in this regard.  A third retake (thus fourth penalty kick) should have been given by the referee had his assistant seen and indicated the infringement.   I can understand why the Swallows coach felt so aggrieved after the match.


The game continued without another big talking point. But with Moroka Swallows fighting for a Top 8 finish and teams such as Platinum Stars and Orlando Pirates still in with small chance of wining the league title, such decisions could prove vital come May.


And that's the final whistle.

Thomas Monyepao
You can find me on twitter @Tom_18Yards

Time to invest in women's football

South Africa is a great country. We have democratic elections every five years without major issues. We have successfully hosted the biggest sport events on planet Earth and whites and blacks are coming together as one unified rainbow nation. It is not a rare site to see members of a rugby union attending a soccer match or to see a soccer team attending a cricket match. We are moving away from old views and old terms such as “white sports” and “black sports”. In South Africa black, white, minority and pink groups are all moving forward in one direction.


Well...at least that is what some would have you believe.


As I mentioned earlier, it appears there is a proactive effort from franchises and clubs in South Africa's “big three sports” to publicly show their support for each other, thereby breaking down racial barriers and previously held views of the people involved in the sports, etcetera and so on. A soccer example is Kaizer Chiefs Football Club recently starting a Sevens rugby team (I wrote a humourous piece about #ChiefsRugby too).


This is a very good initiative in my opinion. This move allows the club to diversify and generate higher revenue through the sale of rugby replica jerseys and has the possibility of attracting even more lucrative sponsorships contracts. The launch will also increase brand awareness and improve the brand image to most South Africans as a club willing break barriers and embrace the South Africa.

"We are bridging the gap and taking the brand further,” said the beautiful marketing director Jessica Motaung following the launch.


When one takes a look at the history of local football, one cant help but be proud to see how far a previously disadvantaged soccer club has progressed from the dusty soccer fields in Soweto the plush rugby fields in George. But I can't help but notice “the gap” that there is still very real gap in our country for another previously – in my opinion, still – disadvantaged group. I am referring to the women in our football.


It is interesting to note that Chiefs - a large, and powerful South African soccer institution - made a move to “diversify” by moving into rugby instead of (or before) investing time and resources into forming a female football team to compete in the SASOL Women's league first.


In the times we live in, there is plenty of rhetoric regarding the empowerment of women and equalization of opportunities as far as gender goes. I am bit surprised that a club that has a woman in a powerful position decided to invest in a different sporting code without having a female football team barely a year after the female national soccer team (Banyana Banyana) were the only soccer representatives at the London Olympics. The same Banyana team finished as runners-up in continental championships too. The same Banyana players struggle to get decent competition in local leagues due to individual and powerful groups' failure to invest in and build women's football at faster pace.


Do we need women's football to sink to the levels of Bafana Bafana before we have a serious concerted effort for all role players to contribute in any way they can?


It is now 2013 and although there is a greater public appreciation for the need for development structures for Bafana to succeed, not much is being done in that aspect. How much longer will it take for development of the women's game to take effect? Big companies are not exactly falling over themselves to inject funding into the women's game. Government, more specifically our current sport minister, Mr Fikile Mbalula, have not constantly been on TV raising the issue of the development of the women's game. Surprisingly, even female supporters of the game have not been very candid about the lack of female teams for their respective favourite clubs.


I can't help but wish at the boardroom meeting whereby it was decided to form a rugby team that Kaizer Motaung had whispered similar words of advice to his child as he claims his father to him when he wanted to form Kaizer Chiefs:


“You know what, I think you should go ahead with your plans to form this team because I am also sick and tired of all these problems...”


The lack of effort into the women's game is frustrating, even as a man. For example, in celebration of August being Women’s month, the Chiefs marketing team put together an entertainment line-up that “pays tribute to the women of South Africa”, which included a curtain raiser featuring the Kaizer Chiefs Female Celebrity Team. Hmmm... Notice the irony.


In the current environment, the team that I support, Moroka Swallows, deserve a pat on the back for at least having a female team. But even they seem to be focused on the men's side of the game. The picture on the right of what I found on their revamped website shows just how seriously the women's game is being taken.

Click to enlarge

Before you unleash hell's fire on me in the comments section, please take note that the aim of this piece is not to attack Kaizer Chiefs, Moroka Swallows or any other person/group. The aim is to alert people to the fact that women's football has no chance of succeeding if those within football circles do not bother to give it the attention and effort it deserves.


There are many issues that need to be tackled to take women's football to another level.


My plea is for all professional teams to have a female team competing in the women's leagues.


My very basic recommendation to those in power is for legislation to require football clubs to have a female football team as part of the requirement to receive their PSL grant. If legislation backs up rhetoric, we will finally see action.


To use Jessica Motaung's words, it is now time to “bridge the gap” between men's and women's football.


Thomas Monyepao

Please follow me on twitter @Tom_18Yards

It only takes MTN8 games for the fans to want you gone!

Moroka Swallows have now gone eight competitive matches without a victory.  This poor run of results has put coach Zeca Marques, affectionately known as Majazana, under a lot of pressure.


I attended the last home game against Supersport United and witnessed first-hand how angry and frustrated the Swallows supporters, Maswaiswai were. Many of the Birds faithful want Marques gone.


However, I feel a bit of perspective is needed in this current situation the Birds are experiencing.


One question immediately springs to mind: at the beginning of the season what exactly were the expectations of fans and board alike?


The board did not explicitly state their objectives or Majazana's mandate. Was his mandate to win the league? Was it to repeat last season's performance? Or was the mandate to merely ensure a top 8 finish?


Some supporters expected Swallows to improve on last season (and go on win the league title).  Some supporters, like myself, knew very well that last season was a once-off: the boys played out of their socks and that performance would not be repeated without substantial investment.


Liverpool had a similar experience a few years ago.  In 2009, Liverpool finished as runners-up behind Manchester United, however, since the 2008/09 season, "Pool's league performance has declined drastically to the point where finishing eighth is now described by their current manager as a "fantastic" achievement.


Swallows, just like the legendary club from Merseyside, may be a big club in terms of history but, currently, they are not amongst the biggest in terms of money. Therefore it is no surprise to find three out of the four richest clubs occupying the top 3 places in the Premier Soccer League right now.


On paper, that's to be expected.


Personally, my expectations for Swallows this season were for the team to achieve a top-6 finish and I did not expect to have trophy in the cabinet at all, especially with Mamelodi Sundowns doing what they do best with the chequebook, and Kaizer Chiefs awakening to flex their financial muscle in the transfer market again.


Marques, delivered a trophy within a few months, something which Gordon Igesund was not able to achieve. By turning this Swallows team into MTN8 champions, Marques has already surpassed my expectations.


As an Arsenal supporter - you can trust me on this one - winning a trophy is a much better feeling than securing a respectable league finish.


As bad as we are playing right now, Marques' results, viewed objectively, show that he has been more successful than "GI" (one trophy versus Igesund's tally of zero trophies). I even wrote a blog titled "All hail Majazana" pointing out the reasons as to why Majazana deserves more credit for this achievement.


And yes, Gordon Igesund did indeed build this team up and transform them from being relegation candidates to title contenders within the space of a year. "GI" built the team up, improved their confidence and pretty much turned water into wine (if you listen to some his fans). But, the fact remains that he failed to win a trophy with the team during his stint as head coach. Zeca Marques made a few tweaks here and there (adding free agent Katlego “Mahoota” Mashego to the squad, for example) and took the team to a higher level.


Why is it that when a new coach comes after the previous coach and fails, we blame the new coach, but when the said new coach comes after a relatively successful stint by the previous coach, the credit goes to the previous coach for any success that the team gains?


Here’s one example: Jose Mourinho’s former clubs’ performances usually decline drastically following his departure, and the blame is always laid squarely on the shoulders of the new man.


Yet in Barcelona, new coach Tito Vilanova is not getting the credit he deserves for ensuring Barcelona enjoy one of their best ever La Liga starts to the season. This is due to the fact that some pundits see him as someone who is merely carrying on the good work of former coach, Pep Guardiola.


Marques will probably be fired before the end of year judging on recent statements by Leon Prins.


Yet another local coach will be fired (or allowed to resign depending on how you look at it) due to players performing below par for – using Leon Prins’ words - “no apparent good reason”.


But that is the way things work in the PSL, when it doubt, and when you see “no apparent god reason” for the decline in performance, what do you do? You fire the coach, of course!


Thomas Monyepao

Do follow me on twitter @Tom_18Yards. You can find more of my articles on the onetwo.co.za site.

Reaction the Chiefs' last-gasp winner

“We showed today that we competed with them and we could have drawn the game but unfortunately it was stolen away from us.” – Zeca Marques

Last week, I highlighted the weaknesses that have contributed to Swallows poor form recently .

However, I was still hopeful that Swallows would be able to, ahem, reclaim the form that they showed in the early part of the 2012/13 season.

In front of a decent crowd at Soccer City, the Swallows team - largely made up of players who used to play for the crowd-pulling clubs in South Africa -  needed no extra motivation for the 90 minutes that were about to follow. But they did, however, need a bit more than just pure motivation to prevent walking away from Soccer City with anything less than a point. The seven minutes of additional time added by referee however, was where the Birds “lost the war” as Zeca Marques angrily stated in his post match reaction -

Here are four things that contributed to the loss last night:

1.       1. Key men missing
Again, as I highlighted in my piece last week, the loss of key men has contributed massively to Swallows being unable to sustain their early season form. Last night, Katlego “Mahoota” Mashego was almost as ineffective as Mpho Maleka was in the previous league match against Chippa United. But Marques, unlike Stuart Baxter, did not have the luxury of being able to replace one struggling striker with a quality striker from the bench. Felix Obada - who again worked his socks off yet - tried hard and almost snatched victory in the dying minutes. But with each passing game, the need for an urgent recovery from injury for  Siyabonga Nomvethe grows.

2.       2. The leftback position
 In my previous blog, I declined from commenting about Swallows’ weakness at leftback. Shere “Skhothane” Lekgothane who had been the weakest link in the Swallows defence in most game this season was not criticised. I refrained from commenting simply because  I had not managed to watch new signing, Lizo Mjempu in action. At times during that first half, Mjempu’s performance made “Skothane” Lekgothane look like he was the black Paolo Maldini. While former Swallows player, Keegan Ritchie, was not enjoying his best game in a Chiefs jersey, the Birds faithful would gladly welcome him back with open arms if he were ever to leave Kaizer Chiefs due to the urgent need of a decent leftback.

3.       3. Zeca “uMajazana” Marques
 From around the 70^th minute, it became clear that Marques was content with a draw as Swallows began sitting back and inviting wave upon wave of Chiefs attacks. On another day, Swallows may have walked away with draw, but then again, on another day (in the previous week) Swallows also failed to defend a one-goal lead against Chippa United when Marques decided to switch from a 4-1-4-1 formation to a 4-2-3-1 formation. Marques is a coach I respect, and thanks to him, Swallows are the only team with a trophy in the cabinet so far this season. However, I do sometimes wished h showed a bit more courage. A brace coach would have battled for  the full three points while also fully utilizing the services of Dikgang Mabalane. Mabalane had to battle for the ball in the air due to all the clearances that somehow came his way and feed off scraps.  Instead of having ball at his feet to display his talent, he was isolated due to the defensive approach of the team in the second half.

4.       4. Poor finishing
 Many will be happy to see Bennet  Chenene on the scoresheet again. However, Chenene wasted two one on one opportunities in the first half, one of which really should have been put away. Black Leopards, Chippa United and now Kaizer Chiefs have punished the Birds for such profligacy.

One wonders how Zeca Marques will change things around for the Birds. But this is where a great coach shows his true colours.

Good luck, Majazana.

Thomas Monyepao

Do follow me on twitter. You can read more of my blogs on onetwo.co.za

"Yellow Nation" see red!

I decided to take a foreign colleague of mine to the stadium this afternoon to watch a game between Moroka Swallows and Mamelodi Sundowns so that he can experience “real: South African soccer, live. What a bad day to do that…

For some strange reason, tickets for the game were not made available at Computicket.  Thus, we first had to endure a struggle and look for the place or individual who was selling tickets for the game. This delayed us slightly and we missed out on seeing the game’s opening goal.   In all honesty, the game was not the most entertaining game I have ever seen.

As the game wore on I kept poking to my Ugandan friend, Steven, to show him how the tension in the Yellow Nation’s (Sundowns supporters’) stand was increasing as the game wore in. The worst was yet to come.

The game ended 2-0 in favour of the home team.  The coaches’ interviews were being done, while in the background, the traveling band of Mamelodi Sundowns supporters was busy devising a way of breaking down the fence on the east side of the stadium.   

As I was seated in the main grand stand with fellow Moroka Swallows supporters, things didn’t look like they would get out of control.

 Although I am not quite the best photographer in town, I managed to take a few snaps which tell the story better than I can.  There was chaos. Steven was stunned.

Notice how some fans have pieces of what used to be a fence in the hands

Downs fans even tipped over the coaches' dugout

Steven could not believe his eyes

I think the violence lasted for about thirty minutes after the final whistle. Supporters - kids and adults alike - were running wild all over the Dobsonville stadium pitch, while the main group was causing trouble with the police and security officials. They were outnumbered by the unruly supporters and I wondered how badly this would end – we have all seen civilians shot for causing far less trouble without directly attacking the police.

Alex Tshakaone managed to escape unscathed into the tunnel after he decided t make a run for it when it began to seem clear that this time the Yellow Nation was here to make a statement and would not back down no matter which club official Sundowns sent to try calm them down.  The fans have clearly had enough of coach Johan Neeskens.  Few coaches manage to keep their job at the helm one of the Big Three with a record like that.

As I write this, I am pretty sure Neeskens will be relieved of his duties tomorrow morning. The fans have been heard chanting Pitso Mosimane’s name (yes, the very same Pitso that almost every soccer fan in South Africa described as a “clueless coach” after his rather unsuccessful time as national team coach).

This could be Pitso’s chance to return to the big time. However, do not be surprised if Sundowns owner Patrice Motsepe whips out his cheque book and buys out the contract of another Dutch coach – but only this time, a Dutch coach who has actually enjoyed success in the Premier Soccer League.

If it isn’t obvious by now, I am referring to none other than Ruud Krol.

Watch this space.

Thomas Monyepao

Do follow me on twitter