Amakhosi firing in all cylinders

Kaizer Chieds started the second Q-innovation period the same way they ended it: in the summit of the PSL log. They thrashed Golden Arrows 3-0 and Supersport United 2-1. Many people feel that the Glamour Boys are reclaiming their glory days, Chiefs has spent nseven years without a league title in their cabinet despite winning multiple cup competitions every season....The tails are up in Naturena as Stuart Baxter's men are yet to taste defeat in this PSL season with ten games played

Bucs surrender a lead

Orlando Pirates uncharacteristically and shockingly gave up a two goal lead on the last four minutes of the match against Bloemfontein Celtic in the Telkom knokout. It is usually the Bucs that dish up those moments but on Sunday they tasted yhe bitterness of theie own medicine.

The then defending champions were ahead at the interval by two goals to nil. Celtic reduced the deficit into half, before Pirates scored a goal two minutes later. Substitutions helped "'phunya selele" to be rejuvinated, scoring two quick goals in the added time. The Bucs went out to lose the match on penalty shootouts 5-3, thus losing their second title this season after failing to  successfuly defend the MTN 8 title.

Boks faceoff against tough Ireland

The last time the Springboks went to play in Ireland was in 2010 when the Boks won 21-23 at Aviva Stadium, making amends for their defeat to the Irish a year earlier in the same venue. It  will be a challenging taskfor Meyer's men  consideringthelackustre performance they displayed in thid year's Rugby Championship.  However all the players were declared fit by the team Doctors!........Goodluck Bokke

Man Utd defeat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge

The game lived up to the expectation of the football fans across the globe. It was hotly contested and full of controversy as both teams were fighting for the top positions in the EPL log. Man utd went ahead as early as the 4th minute through David Luiz's own goal. Eight minutes kater Robin Van Persie doubled the visitor's lead. The Dutch sensation scored a hatrick on his last visit to Stamford Bridge when he was still at Arsenal (Arsenal won 5-3). Chelsea fought back to equalise through Juan Mata and Ramires on either side of the interval. Manchester United's Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez showed the same brilliance he showed midweek when Man Utd played  against Portugal's Braga in the UEFA Champion's League as he slotted a goal in the 75th minute. The Red Devils are now in second place in the EPL, a point behind from The Blues who are currently in the summit of the log.

Let the games begin

The  battlefiled has been laid for the AFCON 2013 tournament in South Africa. On paper the hosts are in a relativey easy group and will be expected by many football pundits to come out of the group stages. Bafana will kick matters off with Cape Verde who will be making their first appearance at the African showpiece after eliminating Cmeroon(4time African champions). Angola-who qualified for the 206 World Cup in Germany and took part in the last three Afcon tourmanets and the formiddable Morroco. So the group is not as easy as many people think it is. Undoubtedly most South Africans are pleased that the team is not slotted in group D alongside: Cote d' Ivoire, Tunisia, Algeria and Togo. Cote d' Ivoire were the finalists of the 2006 Afcon edition and qualified for the World Cup the same year. Tunisia and Togo also participated in that welcome, whereas Algeria qualified for the 2010 World Cup edition alongside Cote d' Ivoire who surprisingly lost to Zambia in this year's Afcon which was staged jointly gABON and Equatorial Guinea            

Man Utd have achieved 100% record so far in UEFA CL

Man Utd came back from behind to beat a spirited Braga outfit at Old Trafford. The Portuguese side found the back of the net with two minutes in the match courtesy of their captain Alan. The Brazilian scored his second goal of the match 18minutes later. The Red Devils crawled their way back to the game when Hernandez scored with a header 5mins after Alan completed his brace. Evans scored from Van Persie's free kick to level the scores. Hernandez finished off Braga with a terrible header from Tom Cleverly's cross from the right. Man Utd are now on top of their group with 9points out of the possible nine. Sir Alex Ferguson will be a very pleased man heading to Sunday's penultimate encounter against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea is on top of the English Premiership log while Man utd is closely behind them on second place.

Poor cup run

Kaizer Chiefs are dubbed as cup specialists by South African supporters but this season the Glamour are yet to pass the first round of all cup competitions playes so far. They were eliminated by Mamelodi Sunsowns in the MTN8, Bucs in the pre-season Carling Black Label, MACUFE by Celtic and this past weekend they were beaten by Wits University in the Telkom Knockout. It's not all bad for the men in yellow as they are at the summit of the league log and will be playing a low ranked team in the form of Maritzburg United in Harry Gwala,PMB. 

Bafana not improving

When Gordon Igesund took over as the national team coach  most South Africans believed that the boys will be a winning team. Under Gordon the team has only won one game out of three, with a recent loss being suffered at the heads of the Polish in Warsaw last Friday. That record stretched South Africa's winless record in European soil to twelve years. Today, the boys will be out in Nairobi, Kenya to play the Harambe Stars- a team they defeated two nil at Rustenberg in their last meeting last year. The win might improve Bafana's FIFA rankings and as for Gordon-it might win him support headibg to the AFCON next year and some crucial friendlies lined up for Bafana including the African champions Zambia next month.  

The country awaits in great expectation

Bafana Bafana will play Poland tomorrow in Warsaw after the recent FIFA rankings showed that the team dropped two places in the world rankings from 74th to 76th and a win in Warsaw might boost the team. It is highly unlikely though that the team might come back with a win away from home considering their track record  when they away games. The victory over Mozambique was not good enough to secure a better FIFA ranking for South Africa. This is an important match as it prepares the team for the next AFCON tournament and after the surprise retirement of the influential Steven Pienaar the match will be difficult for the South Africans.

Springboks end the inaugural rugby chamionship on a low

The South African rugby team ended this year's rughby championship by a loss to the All Blacks at Soccer City in Soweto by 32-16. Despite the Boks dominating the first half at one stage they were 10-12 behind after Johan  Goosen's two penalty kicks misses. The Boks were kept scoreless the entire second half with New Zealand kicking the matters off with a try  and then a hailstorm of points were scored by New Zealand followed, scoring 20 unanswered points. This season the Boks failed to win both legs of matches with their opponents, they even failed to whitewash newcomers Argentina.

Two horse race: world football on their feet

It was a known fact that the "el classico" between  Real Madrid and Barcelona would be a cracker of an encounter and the focus of attention would Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. The two global stars really demonstrated why they are the two best footballlers of our generation with each scoring a brace. Cristiano opened the scoring with a well taken shot beating Victor Valdez on the near post. His biggest rivalry in the sporting arena equalized on the other end of the field capitalizing on a careless mistake by the Los Blancos defence to take the game 1-1 to halftime.

The "magician" as Messi is affectionately known doubled the hosts lead with a well tasken trademark freekick, a lead that only lasted for five minutes as Ronaldo clinically finished off a Mesut Ozil pass.
Real Madrid have never won a league title with Barcelona leading them with eight points and Barca has only dropped a maximum of eighteen points in the last three seasons, so it is highly unlikely to see the Catalans not lifting the la liga title at the end of the season. Having said that Barcelona have not won with big margins this season as Madrid is doing. One thing for sure is that the return leg in Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in March next year will be a mouth watering affair as the teams could be no.1 and 2 on the log standings by then.

Chippa United registered their debut PSL victory

The new kids on Douth Africa's top flight football gained their first maximum three points in a 2-1 home win against Bloemfontein Celtic. Chipppa United have managed to secure four points out of the pssible six under the rule of their coach who is having his second spell at the Fillipi based club. United's next fixture is against Amakhosi who are sitting on the summit of the log at Soccer City Complex on Saturday the 29th of September.

Madrid edge out Man City

In the ultimate clash of champions in UEFA Champioons's League group D Spanish giants Real Madrid defeated a resilient and spirited big spending Manchester City of England. The game started slowly but the second half goal by Dzeko which was set up by Yaya Toure gave a bit of life to the game and inspired the hosts to attack. Real Madrid scored an equaliser courtesy of the Brazilian international Marcelo-as his strike deflected on the chest of a former Real Madrid player, Xavi Garcia. Shortly the visitors regained the lead through a well taken free kick by Aleksander Kolarov. Two minutes later Karim Benzema scored Reals' second goal of the night. It took a special shot from Cristiano Ronaldo in the 89th minute to seal off a victory for the under pressure Spanish champs after their poor start to to the season. It was the Portuguese's 151st goal in 150 appearances for los blancos....a goal he celebrated after he famously claimed that he was "sad" at the club. One will say that the Englishmen went down because of inexperience in Europe's elite club competition as they failed to secure a lead twice or show the same attacking prowess they display week in week out at the English Premier League.

Chiefs lead washed out by the rain

Kaizer Chiefs' was on the suffering side after a match was called off due to heavy rain. Chiefs were ahead on the third minute courtesy of Parker's freekick and Kingston Nkatha doubled the lead 8 minutes later. Heavy rain started on the 24th minute and later followed by ice rocks.The referee was forced to stop the match.  The game between AmaKhosi and Lidoda Duvha is scheduled for Wednesday and will start from the top although the goals will count on the end of the season. Black Leopards will show avoid to slip up once more.

Messi booed by Peruvian supporters

The Argentinian darling of  football, Lionel Messi, was boooed by Peruvian supporters in a 3-1 win over  Peru in an embroiling world cup qualifier at Cordoba. The Argentian has scored 10 times in seven occassions for his native Argentina but the Peruvians didnt applaud the goal scoring exploits of el pulga.Messi assisted his club level fierce rival Gonzalo Higuain and also scored. The fans chanted "Ronaldo" everytime the littlemaster had the ball.

Bafana convicingly beat Mozambique

South Africa got the elusive victory against their north east neighbours Mozambique. Bafana scored two goals courtesy of Kaizer Chiefs' Barnard Parker in the 7th and 88th minute to seal off a much needed win by 2013 AFCON hosts. This was Gordon Igesund's first win in charge following the team's loss against Brazil over the weekend(his debut).

Bafana lose to Brazil

Bafana lost one nil to the Sanba boys of Brazil in Soa Paulo. The Brazilian national team was booed off the field  at the interval and at the end of the match by the home fans following a lacklustre display. Neymar was called "a popicaro" a popcorn and the fans labelled him as "not brave" as the Santos man failed to show the same goal scoring exploits he displays at club level that saw him score 15 goals in 14 encounters.

The South Africans were applauded by the Brazilian fans as they showed resistance against a star studded Brazilian outfit. Hulk scored the onl  goal  ofthe match. Itumeleng Khune was the star of the show as he denied Brazil goals through spectacular and brave saves. Bafana will play their neighbours Mozambique in an international friendly tomorrow in Maputo.

Paralypmic gold for SA men'srelay team

The South African Paralympic's mens's relay team won a gold in the 4x100m. The team comprised of four runners, Samkelo Radebe, Zivan Smith, Arnaud and Oscar Pistorius. The most electrifying moment of the race came when Pistorius was competing for no.1 finish with a Brazilian in what seemed like would be a repeat of his previous race with a Brazilian, which he lost. History would not repeat itself this time as the South African blade runner reached the finish line at 41.78, with the South African men's relay team aetting a new paralympic world record.

Benni called to the national team

At the at age of 34 Bennedict McCarthy of Orlando Pirates has been called to the national team for international friendlies against Brazil and Mozambique. The injury on Siyabonga Nomvete has left Gordon with no choice but to call back the Bafana's all time leading goal score to the squad. Benni has shown the same sparke that saw him become the first South African to score four goals on international duty, win the UEFA Champions League and multiple European league and and cup trophies in SA. Upon his return to South Africa he has won a treble with the Bucs and two CArling Cup trophies as well as individual awards.

Descipline seems to be the only factor lacking to the coveted South African footballer as he is currently serving a two-match red card ban  for an off the ball alteration with Supersport United's Franklin Cale.

Van Persie saves Man Utd's day

Robin Van Persie scored a hatrick against Southampton at St Mary's to help the 20-time EPL champions secure three points. The performance of the Red Devils was dire as their midfield was dominated by Southamptons'. It is for the second time that the Saints have gave up on a lead in three matches this season.

The hosts would be kicking themselves for allowing the Dutchman to score two goals in the last three minutes of the match. The new Manchester United signing has scored four goals in three matches, all goals coming in the last two matches.

Seven debutants called in the Bafana team

New Bafana coach Gordon Igesund has called in seven uncapped players for the two Bafana friendlies against Brazil in and Mozambique respectively. Gordon takes the ropes from the interim coach Steve Kompela after Pitso was shown the door by SAFA after the national team's poor run of form and lack of goal scoring.

First Madrid win of the season results in silverware

Real Madrid have won the 2012/2013 Spanish Cup against Barcelona through their first win of the season courtesy of goals from Gonzalo Higuain, and Cristiano  Ronaldo who was opening his goal scoring account of the season. The Catalans have been dethroned after having the trophy on their cabinet for the past four seasons.

World Football Player of the year Lionel Messi cancelled cut the two-goal deficit to one but his side struggled to comeback as they were down to ten men through a red card in the opening stages of the second half. Los Blancos have now won 3 titles under Mourinho in two seasons. and all of them were in the Barca cabinet, signalling the shift of power and the return of Madrid to winning ways. 

Soweto vs Pretoria

Very few pundits would have expected to see the Dube Birds taking on Matsantsantsa a pitori in the MTN8 final this season, after Sundowns thrashed Chiefs and Pirates seemed to be the invincibles once again this season. But football being the unpredictable sport it is, both crowd favourites were convicingly knocked out of the competition with Swallows defeating Sundowns 6-5 on aggregate and SuperSport United thrashed the defending champions Orlando Pirates 3-0 to set up a final between surprise finalists hungry for silverware at the R8 million rand prize money at stake.

La liga Champions winless after two matches

Real Madrid broke records last season when they won their 32nd la liga title, became the first Spanish team to score 115 league goals and securing 100 points. This season seems to be the total opposite of that, los blancos are yet to register a win as they drew 1-1 with Valencia at Santiago Bernabeu despite scoring first through Argentine Gonzalo Higuain. History repeated itself when they took on a less popular Madrid team in the form of Getafe, Madrid opened the scoring courtesy of Higuain but Getafe came strongly in the second half to bang in two goals.

Their bitter rivals Barcelona have scooped all six points in the opening two encounters of the new la liga season, despite a patchy perfomance against Osasuna in Pamplona. Barca lost the corresponding fixture in February in a freezing Pamplona night but history couldnt repeat itself on a hot summer's day as Lionel Messi netted two goals, turn down the one goal deficit nad win three points for Barca. Barcelona is currently on the top of the table and Madrid is 15th.

Worst start for Man Utd

Manchester United kicked off the the 2012/2013 English Premier League season on a low after an unexpcted defeat at the hands of Everton at Goodisin Park. Felaini scored the only goal of the match to give the Toffies a good start to the new football season. The Toffies coach David Moyes believes that his team can build from their victory against  English Premier League's most successful football team

All Square

The weekend matches saw two draws between Mamelodi Sundowns and Moroka Swallows on Saturday and between Super Sport United and Orlando Pirates on Sunday respectively.

The first match on Saturday produced fireworks and it was goals gallore as the game ended three all. The Dube birds were on the lead as early as the 6th minute courtesy of their new signing from Maritzburg United, Felix Obada. The visitors doubled their lead a few minutes later before Modise reduced the deficit to one goal through a spotkick.

Mamelodi Sundowns came back like a house on fire and netted the equaliser on the 65th minute before Swallows went on the lead for the second time in the match .Manqele cancelled the lead five minutes from time to declare a tie.

The game between Pirates and United did not live up to the expectations. The game ended in a dull goalless draw with both teams finishing with 10 men due to redcards. Many expected to see goals as the last five premier league titles are in the trophy cabinet of these two teams.

RVP signed by Man Utd

Arsenal has let go of their talismanic Dutch striker Robin Van Persie, the Dutch sensation will be seen in the red and white of Manchester United, he has been signed for a repoted amount of 23million pounds. It is clear that the 28 year old will add spark to the already explosive attacking players at Man Utd that include the likes of English internationals Wayne Rooney and  Danny Welbeck as well as the Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov upfront.

Arsenal has released another star in their squad as the north Londeners released Cesc Fabregas who is one the world's most decorated footballers whrn it comes into global scale success and immediately after the Spanish man's departure at Emirates Arsenal lost 8-2 to ManUtd, which was Arsene Wenger's most humiliating defeat in his coaching tenure at the UK and his coaching career as well

We shall wait and see how Arsenal will cope without the Man who has almost single handedly secured them a place in this season's UEFA Champion's League and scored above 50% of the teams' goals last season.

Amakhosi back to winning ways

Kaizer Chiefs got back to winning ways by demolishing AmaZulu 6-0 in a league opener at Usuthu's own backyard. Bernard Parker was the star of the show as the former Red Star Belgrade(Serbia) and FC Tewnte(Netherlands) netted four goals, the equivalent of the number of goals he scored last season in all competitions.

Amakhosi are on the summit of the log after the first matches of the new season but will face formiddable opposition on Wednesday the 15th in the form of Mamelodi Sundowns: the same team that drubbed them 4-1 in an MTN8 quaterfinal. The Pretoria outfit narrowly won against the newly promoted Chippa United by a single goal to nil, courtesy of Thamsanqa Sangweni's well executed free kick.  

Chiefs suffer back to back losses

The Glamour Boys of Naturena suffered to painful defeats from their bitter rivals Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns in a space of seven days, in a Carling Cup pre-season once-off final and the MTN 8 quaterfinal match respectively.

-The former Bafana Bafana coach(Stuart Baxter) who has been newly appointed as coach at Chiefs has not delivered the goods as yet as he lost two of his three games in charge of the Soweto outfit. The new experienced signings of Bafana internationals at the heart of Chief's defence in the form of Mulamandao Matoho and Morgan Gould did not live up to the expectations as Chiefs were outshined by "minwana phezulu" in the MTN8 encounter 4-1 as all Sundown's goals were scored in the first 45-minutes of the match.

The Brazilians dominated the match: they had more possession of the ball, successful passes and tackles. Johaan Neeskeens' men were clinical they had four shorts on target the entire match and they converted those chances into goals.

Kaizer Chiefs will play Amazulu this weekend in the leagues' opening matches  and the the Amakhsi supporters would seetle for nothing less than a win as three points have been elusive in the past few weeks.

Sharks hammered by Chiefs in the final.

Waikato Chiefs went to saturday's match as clear favourites of clinching the title against the Durban-based side that qualified for the final through a playoff encounter and semifinal matches respectively.

The Sharks really did not pitch for the party as the South Africans failed to cross the white chalk for the entire match. They would regard themselves as unfortunate as they narrowly lost to the Bulls in 2007 Super 14final and last season they lost a domestic final( Currie Cup) to the Lions. Their excuse for losing two consecutive finals could be that the Sharks played both games in an away ground.

The Chiefs totally outclassed their visiting opponents scoring for tries in the process. Sony Bill Williams scored the last try of the match on the dying moments of the one-sided encounter, in what could be possibly his last try in a Chiefs jersey as the explosive centre and boxer decides to move to a Japanese club to honour a "handshake promise" he made the club's top brass. His move means that he is no longer eligible to play for New Zealand national team as the All Blacks do not select foreign based players. Sharks were punished by 37-6 in what of the most one sided finals in super rugby history both in terms of the scoreline and domination of Chiefs over the 2008 Currie Cup champions.