So…after three months away from South Africa, spent in Bangladesh (where I dropped this little piece on y’all…if you haven’t read it yet, check it out. Do it.), I am back in Cape Town. So here we go.

PSL

The new PSL season kicked off this week, a welcome beginning after one of the strangest final days of any league, anywhere, back in May.

To give you a quick recap, Ajax Cape Town needed to win on the final day at home, in front of a packed house in the brand new Cape Town Stadium, assuming Pirates, who started the day below them by a point, would also win. Martizburg United, and the pressure, turned out to be too much, and Ajax amazingly went down to a 2-2 draw. Coupled with a Pirates win in Johannesburg, the title went to the Buccaneers. Ninety minutes from glory, the Mother City side was devastated at the final whistle. Wow.

New season, new hopes and dreams. Ajax has lost star Thulani Serero, more on that later, while the Bucs have picked up Benni McCarthy, who scored on debut. Chiefs kept their nucleus, as did Sundowns, mainly due to outrageous, and what I feel are damaging buyout clauses within the players contracts. Multiple European clubs showed interest in players like Katlego Mphela, but Sundowns simply refused to sell, and/or the buyout clause scared clubs away. Just selfish. Anyways, title is up for grabs, with the usual suspects all in the hunt.

Bafana in Europe

The big news on this front is Thulani Serero, one of the most exciting South African prospects in years, has taken his talents to Amsterdam, and Ajax. If you haven’t seen this guy in action, rectify that ASAP. By watching this:

He has performed solidly for the Dutch giants in their first two matches, laying on a neat assist in his second match. Although second choice to Dane wunderkind Christian Ericksen, Serero will not be on any bench for long. Fact.

Bongani Khumalo has started solidly in the Championship, along with Dikgacoi and Mokoena. The Belgian contingent has also started well, with multiple appearances for Davids, Claasen, Gaxa, Ngcongca and Keet.

CAF Qualifiers

Bafana take on Niger in September, and if they win AND Sierra Leone don’t defeat Egypt (a fairly likely scenario, although Niamey will be a tough away trip), then they are through to the 2012 AFCON.

In terms of the 2014 WC, Bafana will take on Botswana, the Central African Republic, and a yet to be determined side. The winner of this four team group will advance to a two legged playoff, the winner of which will head to Brazil. One word. Hectic. Just to be clear, the likely opponents in that two legged playoff could be one of: Cote D’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, etc. Yikes.

SAFA and the New Kits

As I reported back in February, there was a typical fiasco involving the new kits for Bafana, as the contract with Adidas was not renewed. Contrary to what I predicted, SAFA did u-turn and decided to go with Puma. The results are somewhat bland. And like I predicted….it looks like, oh, well, EVERY single other Puma kit. Not cool Puma. Not cool.

So let’s get ready for a big season all around. Comments/questions/suggestions welcome as always.

Wow. Just wow. Katlego Mphela struck with the last kick of the match, deep into second half injury time to defeat Egypt, 1-0, and spark scenes of pandemonium in Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg.

The game seemed destined to peter out to a nil-nil draw, with Egypt controlling the majority of possession as the clock dwindled towards the end of three allocated minuted of injury time. While the Pharaohs pressed and probed a firm Bafana back line, there seemed little chance South Africa would be able to break forward and get the winner, with time, and their form to that point both conspiring against them.

Cometh the hour, cometh the Katlego. Letsholonyane won the ball in the middle of the park and burst forward, shrugging off a challenge before drawing more defenders and finally splitting the Egyptian back line with a wonderful through ball. Although Mphela seemed to be under the control of the Pharaohs center-back, he showed tremendous strength to shake the defender before guiding a precise strike into the side netting, leaving Egyptian keeper El-Hadary lying on the Ellis Park turf in stunned disbelief.

Mphela peeled off to the corner while the Bafana bench erupted into pure mayhem, and the stadium roared. Pitso Mosimane sprinted onto the pitch to celebrate, while Khune seemed to scarcely believe what he just witnessed from his own goal mouth. Pure bliss for the South Africans, who needed the full three points, while Egypt will be devastated they came away with nothing, having totally controlled the match at various stages. While they may think they deserved at least a point, Mphela’s goal goes to show that you have to play to the final whistle, as a break in concentration for the last 10 seconds has put Egypt’s quest to qualify for a tournament they have won three times in a row in serious doubt.

South Africa and Pitso Mosimane will be delighted with the result, three points being crucial in their quest to qualify for the next edition of the AFCON. What a match, what a finish.

Highlights to Come Once They Are Available

As quite excellently detailed today on footy-boots.com, SAFA has gotten itself into quite the morass regarding its kit sponsorship. With the yellow home strip made by Adidas becoming an iconic item during and after the 2010 World Cup, many observers expected Adidas and SAFA to cement their relationship for a long time to come.

Not the case.

For reasons not entirely clear, negotiations between the German sportswear giant and SAFA deteriorated rapidly and acrimoniously in December 2010, and resulted in the overall breakup between the two.

On the surface, it seems quite bizarre, as Adidas has supplied SAFA for some time, and South Africa represents the largest African market. While there were issues regarding counterfeits, I doubt anyone seriously expected the two to cut ties.

Fast forward a few weeks, and SAFA found themselves on the verge of signing with (German) African kit supplying giant Puma, with SAFA CEO Leslie Sidibie even going as far as saying “I can assure you that when Bafana play against Burkina Faso next month, they will be in the new Puma jerseys”.

Well guess what happened. Bafana took to the field against Kenya (as Burkina pulled out shortly prior) in the standard Adidas strip. Whoops.

Although no one is being generous with details, what is clear is the expected deal with Puma fell through at the 11th hour.

Adidas, while no longer under contract with SAFA to produce any more replica kits to sell (as this costs them money), has agreed to supply the national sides with their kit until July, with both parties assuming a new technical sponsor will be found by SAFA by then.

So What Happened?

We can only really speculate at this point, as no one close to the negotiations in any of the three parties is really talking. A first glance, one can assume that SAFA and first Adidas, then Puma’s, ideas of monetary compensation didn’t really mesh. Well this isn’t that surprising.

If you are a sportswear giant, South Africa might seem initially quite enticing. Largest economy and thus largest market on the African continent, and a population not only absolutely nuts about the beautiful game and their representatives in playing it, but also (relatively speaking) with the purchasing power to show their loyalty (by buying a R600 kit).

Well….not so fast. Despite its huge population figures, South Africa doesn’t have the widespread diaspora that many of the West African soccer powerhouses have (Nigeria mainly, also CIV, Ghana, etc), who live in Europe or America, and have cash to spend on kits. Also there are massive issues with fake merchandise. I can right now leave my desk and walk down to the nearest market in Cape Town and purchase a Chinese made knock off Bafana kit for as low as R150 (Adidas version costs about R500-600). And boy do they look real.

So perhaps its not so surprising that there have been difficulties (I won’t even get into the likely inflated sense of self-importance probably displayed by SAFA in negotiations).

So What Next?

Let’s check out the contenders.

Big Boys

Adidas – Former supplier, most likely not at all interested in renewing at this stage.

Puma – Seemed to be in pole position, but couldn’t finalize negotiations. In all honesty I am not sure many South Africans were keen on Puma, since they supply almost all major African nations, often with the same cookie cutter design (with an elephant or black star thrown in).

Nike – Intriguing, as they have made big moves as of late, mainly snagging the oddly lucrative France from Adidas. While they don’t have a huge presence in terms of volume in South Africa, they do count two of the biggest clubs in the country as theirs, Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns. Also the main choice for boots.

Umbro – Perhaps even more intriguing, as they are owned by Nike, and have a MASSIVE presence in South African club football. Three PSL teams, the entire first division (one rung down from PSL), and countless Vodacom, Castle and University league sides (further down the ladder).

The Small Fish

Under Armor – They outfit defending PSL champ Supersport United. Not sure if they have the clout to pull it off.

Airness – French company with a number of other African nations in its stable (Mali, DRC, etc), could they pull off outfitting one of the big boys?

Legea – The Italians of North Korea infamy also outfit neighbors Zimbabwe, but would be highly unlikely SAFA would join their flock. You know, unless Kim Jong-Il decided to lend the company some of those fake hundreds.

Other – Reebok, Hummel and Mille all also have some traction in SA football, but it would be a stunning upset if they managed to secure Bafana. Same for Diadora, Kappa, Macron and the rest.

So what do you think Bafana supporters? Who do you want to see outfitting Pienaar, Somma, Khune and the rest of the boys in the future?

A decidedly uninspiring Bafana Bafana side downed Kenya on Wednesday at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium, with Davide Somma and Steven Pienaar getting the goals in a 2-0 victory.

With previous, and much better, opponent Burkina Faso withdrawing from the fixture, SAFA scrambled to find a replacement, and settled for Kenya, the east African minnows who were not expected to provide much of a test.

This turned out to be the case, with South Africa overwhelming them in all areas of the pitch, particularly in midfield, with the prolificness of their attack only match by the ineptness of the finishing. Although Bafana emerged with a 2-0 victory, in all honesty it should have been closer to 10-0, but for a clear lack of composure in front of goal.

Somma, who scored his debut goal for his country less than two minutes into the match, was perhaps more guilty than most, although he can take heart in opening a Bafana account which should soon be bulging with goals. If nothing else, watching chance after chance was somewhat exciting, if not ultimately depressing for the legions of South Africans watching on SABC, but we will take the win and look forward to playing Egypt in a crucial AFCON qualifier next.

Highlights have been hard to find for this one (you aren’t missing a lot, although it would be nice to see Somma’s debut goal out there on the net), but will be posted if found.

Some bits and bobs from the world of South African football as of late:

- The USA has cancelled a scheduled friendly with Egypt, which was to take place on the 9th, due to the widespread unrest in the country. Egypt had hoped to use this match as preparation for their qualifier against Bafana in March, it will be interesting to see what they do now that the US is out.

- That very same day, Bafana was scheduled to take on Burkina Faso…which has also been cancelled, although SAFA quickly replayed the Stallions with Kenya, who should provide a good test for Pitso Mosimane’s men, although they are not nearly as strong as Burkina. Oh well.

- Sticking to the national side, Mosimane sent out a strong message regarding some recent actions by players taken against their clubs (ahem Mphela and Modise), stating:

“We don’t condone players who don’t attend training sessions at their clubs and we don’t have room for those players in Bafana Bafana. The results are important and my head is on the block. I need these key players, but if players don’t report to training in their clubs then this is not the place at Bafana to promote players who are absconding from their clubs. We must not send out the wrong message to the players that they can abscond and still come to Bafana.”

Strong words, but I do sort of feel for Mphela in particular. I wrote earlier about how none of the major Bafana stars have moved to Europe following the World Cup. Now someone (Partizan Belgrade) makes a solid offer for Mphela….and Sundowns flat out reject it. Ugh.

- In terms of the PSL season, Pirates still top the table, with Chiefs and Sundowns hot on their heels. My hometown clubs Ajax and Santos lie in fourth and fifth, respectively, while at the other end, Mpumalanga Black Aces prop up the table on a sad, sad 8 points.

- Moving on to South Africans abroad and….Khumalo made the bench for Spurs on Wednesday!!! Great news, as this means he is surely on his way to a first appearance, and then inevitable start, as Spurs central defenders seem to have the make up of wax paper (Dawson, King, etc).

Also, hilariously or depressingly, I am not sure which, Khumalo accidentally headbutted fellow South African Steven Pienaar during training, knocking him unconscious.

“Our other South African Bongani thought Steven’s head was the ball and knocked him unconscious in training.” – Harry Redknapp.

Can’t make this stuff up folks. Pienaar is now out for two weeks, while Khumalo should probably work on his aim in advance of his debut.

Bafana winger Siphiwie Tshabalala has been on trial at Nottingham Forest’s City ground as of late, with many in the UK reporting that it was a done deal, and he would be moving north to the Championship promotion hopefuls.

However, Forest manager Billy Davies has quickly refuted those claims, saying “We’ve looked at him and told him we would monitor his progress. And then, depending on the progress, and what situation is, we will review it in the summer – with no guarantees.” Sigh.

Apologies in advance for the rant….but seriously? Monitor his progress? He smashed home a top corner missile in probably the highest pressure match of the World Cup outside of the final (that’s right, WORLD CUP). He was arguably the best player on a South African side that was unlucky to not advance, and he is regularly a top performer in the PSL. Yeah, I know Forest won a European cup or two about a billion years ago, but remind me, what world studs put on the red shirt these days? The ‘us > everyone else by a lot’ attitude is just stunning from a country which has done, well, frankly nothing internationally since 1966.

Shabba himself wasn’t too concerned with being asked to trial, saying: “They asked to have a closer look at me and I don’t have a problem with that. I know that there are other clubs who would’ve possibly signed me straight away but Nottingham Forest asked to have a look at me.”

Of course he is going to say that, he wants to be signed, but why does he have to trial? It is just strange, that in this day and age, where Forest have available to them every single second he has played professionally on DVD (including the trifling matter of three World Cup matches), and the means to send scouts to see him in the PSL, they still bring him in on trial…and STILL won’t give him a firm yes or no, while they ‘monitor his progress’.

Shabba is good enough for the Championship, and ideally this is just bluster from Davies, perhaps to gain some sort of leverage in dealing with Chiefs. Who knows, but hopefully we can see Shabba tearing up the flanks in England and Wales come September.

BAM

The United States defeated South Africa 1-0 in the Nelson Mandela Challenge in Cape Town, ensuring their unbeaten record against the Bafana remains intact.

NY Red Bulls youngster Juan Agudelo grabbed the winner only a few minutes from time, roofing his shot past Khune, after an entry pass from Norwegian-American Mikael Diskerud.

South Africa dominated proceedings for the most part, against what was very much a US second string side, but could not take their chances, and slumped to defeat.

I was able to attend the match, and for the Bafana I was particularly impressed with Andile Jali, who patrolled the middle of the park quite well, and debutant Davide Somma, whose workrate and skill certainly shown through in the sixty minutes he was given. All in all, a disappointing result, but with some positive signs for the future, and a tremendous partisan crowd in Cape Town.

In honor of the United States Men’s National Team coming to Cape Town, South Africa, to take on the Bafana Bafana in a friendly on Wednesday, I have compiled a list of all the Americans who currently (or have in the last calendar year) play football in the Mother City. The Red, White and Blue has been represented quite outstandingly in South Africa in the past year, as I can personally attest, with all of the players below being major contributors to their respective club sides.

Cape Town itself is a beautiful setting for football, with both UCT and Camps Bay FC playing in absolutely stunning venues, as you can see below.

So here is the list of players, I apologize if I missed anyone who currently plays in Cape Town, I compiled it to the best of my knowledge. It includes, name, position and US uni and/or club team. All of the below players either are on a semester exchange, undertaking graduate study, or working in Cape Town. So if any of the 18 players in Bradley’s current camp go down before Wednesday’s match, reinforcements are on hand.

Americans in Cape Town

University of Cape Town FC

Alex Afsahi – D/M – Yale (D1)

Ian Barber – M – Clemson (Club)

Justin Beck – M – William Jewell (NAIA), Kansas City Attack

Micah Holdaway – D – William Jewell (NAIA), Azzuri Ajax

Brett Lewis – F – William Jewell (NAIA) Kansas City Attack

Jacob Perkinson – D/M – William and Mary (Club)

Lawton Salley – D – Bowdoin (D3)

Matt Walsh – D/M – Siena (D1), LDU-Quito (ECU)

Camps Bay FC

Corey Moffat – D – Middlebury (D3)

Ryan Mcgonigle – M – Franklin & Marshall (D3)

Ambassadors in Sport

Morgan Cathey – G – Azusa Pacific (NAIA), Ajax Cape Town, Ikapa Sporting

View From the U. of Cape Town Football Stadium

Camps Bay, home of Camps Bay FC

South Africa boss Pitso Mosimane has named his squad to face the United States in Cape Town for the 2010 Nelson Mandela Challenge on November 17th.

A number of new faces dot the roster, as Mosimane has stated he wants to test out some new players he hasn’t had a chance to see in action for Bafana as of yet.

The Squad:

Goalkeepers: Itumeleng Khune, Moeneeb Josephs

Defenders: Siboniso Gaxa, Morgan Gould, Siyanda Xulu, Bevan Fransman, Keegan Ritchie, Anele Ngcongca, Siyabonga Sangweni, Tsepo Masilela

Midfielders: Matthew Pattison, Siphiwe Tshabalala, Teko Modise, Thanduyise Khuboni, Reneilwe Letsholonyane, Steven Pienaar, Andile Jali, Daylon Claasen, Kagisho Dikgacoi

Strikers: Davide Somma, Bernard Parker, Sthembiso Ngcobo, Kermit Erasmus

Perhaps the biggest surprise is Leeds Unitedfrontman Davide Somma. Born in Johannesburg of Italian parentage, the striker soon moved to the United States, and then later to Italy and England, where he remains today, to further his career. Eligible for Italy, South Africa and the US, Somma chose the nation of his birth and will likely make his Bafana debut against the US.

Also of note is the inclusion of Matty Pattison, one of my favorite PSL players, a combatative, box to box midfielder who consistently shines for Mamelodi Sundowns in the PSL. Surely Matty was disappointed not to make the World Cup squad, but many Bafana fans will be intrigued by the potential of a Pattison/Jali middle of the park combo. Could bode well for the future if they perform well together.

History

Bafana have never beaten the US, losing both matches played to date. The first was a 4-0 defeat in 2000 in Washington DC, while a return match in Johannesburg in 2006 ended with a 1-0 win for the States.

Some Davide Somma Highlights (Lincoln City, on loan from Leeds)

South Africa’s womens national team, the Banyana Banyana, advanced out of a close group by crushing Mali 4-0, and will now face Equatorial Guinea in the semi-finals of the 2010 Womens African Cup of Nations.

Equatorial Guinea are the defending champions of the competition, and will be keen to reach the final once again, but hosts South Africa will look to spring the upset.

Highlights of the 4-0 drubbing by the hosts can be seen here.

The other semi-final will see Nigeria take on Cameroon on Thursday.