Proud weekend for South Africa mega sports

Week 24 was a proud weekend for South African sport supporters as the national teams of rugby and soccer grabbed victories over England and Gabon respectively. The Bafana Bafana win is a cause for celebration as wins dont come more often in the way of the soccer national team. The friendly match win against the 2012 co-hosts may not be as important as the one they should have won against Ethiopia and Botswana as the two matches were world cup qualifiers but it managed to bring hope and pride back to the national team and could make Steve Kompela the permanent coach of Bafana.

The Boks win over their old enemies was equally important to South Africa as that of Bafana because now they have clinched the series.

Candidates for Bafana coaching position interviewed

Four coaches of South African descent were called upon by SAFA for interviews and do a presentation to the panel on how they cna get South Africa back to winning ways. All the four coaches are well known in South Africa football and are very successful hence others say they should all be selected to coach Bafana.

The four coaches are Neil Tovey: winner of the 1996 AFCON(captain), Ephraim Shakes Mashaba (coached SA to the runner's up position in 2000 AFCON), Gordon Igesund( PSL's most successful coach) and Gavin Hunt (three time PSL champions with SSU&1 cup).

One other candidate is the current interim coach of South Africa Mbuyiselo Steve Kompela whom is believed to be in more advantage than other coaches because if he can grab the elusive victory against Gabon in Mbombela Stadium tonight @ 20:30 on SABC3 he might manage to win the hearts of many South Africans including the executives of SAFA

Danny Jordan cancells trip to EURO2012 opener due to racism

Danny Jordan cancelled a trip to the opening match of Europe's elite football competition in Poland due to racist chants made by Polish supporters in an open training session in a Dutch camp. The Polish supporters directed monkey chants to two black players in the Netherlands squad. Danny said that he could not go to such a country as he has also experienced how it feels to be made inferior because of your skin colour as he suffered the same thing during the apartheid years in South Africa. The 2010 World Cup LOC  executive said he will not show up to the tournamnent to show that he is against racism.

UEFA-which is the governing body of European football will also take steps in getting rid of racism in European football after there were other racism chants in a match between Russia vs Czech Republic

Messi hatrick leads Argentina to victory

Lionel Messi has been heavily criticized for not showing the brilliance in the blue and white of his national team as he does when he plays for his club side Barcelona of Spain. In recent international friendlies the four time world player of the year has proved the critics to be incorrect. Lionel Messi has scored two hatricks for his native country of Argentina including the one he scored against bitter rivals Brazil which helped the Argentians decure a much needed victory and iprove their world rankings as the country is ranked 9th world wide. Argentina won the match 4-3 

Boks' young blood win

The Springboks were given little chance by many pundits of defeating England because the team blooded a young team that included three debutants on the starting XV. Fortunately Meyers' troops did deliver the required results and the Springbok coach has started his international rugby career on a high.

Many Springbok supporters will be hoping that these results will be a familiar thing in the Bok camp. As for the tour it is not over yet, the English can still come back to win as there are two matches remaining.

In other international rugby matches New Zealand beat Ireland, All Black's were under the guidance of their new coach. Australia defeated Wales and regain confidence after losing to Scotland 9-6 in a game that was played on a neutral venue(Newcatle, England). All southern hemisphere teams proved their dominance over their northern counterparts and show why they are the top three ranked teams in the recent release of the IRB rankings.

Gautrain Operates between Joburg and Pretoria

The fastest train under the African sky started operating between Joburg and Pretoria yesterday and it will do so for every long  time to come. The commuters of the train are very happy about it because it will reduce the number of vehicles on the road and most motorists wont have to pay the expensive toll road between the two major cities in Gauteng.

South African national anthem mumbled...AGAIN!

On Tuesday South Africa suffered another humiliation in sport but this time the humiliation was not based on results. The country's natioinal anthem that the e.tv reporter said to be a "what sounded like a mixture of die stem and nkosi sikele' iAfrica" was mumbled during a women's hockey match  between South Africa and Great Britain.

This is not for the first time that this has been happening: the sprinbok's suffered the same fate in 2009 when they were playing against France in Paris and the Proteas also tasted the same medicine. Humiliation  and dissapointment was clearly evident on the face of South african players but courageously went on to defeat Great Britain 3-1

Pitso Shown The Door

The aftermath of Bafana's 1-1 draw against Ethiopia resulted in the sacking of Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane. The former Jomo Cosmos and Bafana Bafana player lost his job after coaching the national team in 16 matches since he took over after the 2010 World Cup fro Brazilian national Carlos Alberto Pareira.

-Pitso's was announced on Tuesday 05/2012 after SAFA held am urgent meeting with regards to Bafana's poor run of form. The national team is currently under the guidance of Steve Khompela who was Pitso's teamate at international level. The former Amakhosi defender has been recently appointed as Bafana's assistant coach after leading Free State Stars into league contenders  and so did Gordon Igesund who led the Dube Birds into a top-two finish after being nearly relegated.

-Another local coach who is considered of being the next Bafana coach is Gavin Hunt who led Supersport to three consecutive league titles including a cup title this season. Khompela will remain as the interim coach of the national team until SAFA appoint a permanet coach to fill the shoes of Pitsi Mosimane

Bafana's woes continue

Most South Africans would have betted with their lives that Pitso Mosimane's men will grab the vital points considering that they play a team that is lowly ranked 138th in the FIFA world rankings but unfoetunateky thst was not the case. Instead the South Africans were shocked nearly to death when Ethiopia found the back of the net through their Egyptian striker Ahmed Saldhin Said who was a a constant thorn on the defence of South Africa threatening to extend the visitors lead despite being te only man upfront and having the ball on very few occassions.

-Despite South Africans having a lions share of the ball possession they failed to create any realistic goal scoring opportunities as the Black Lions of Ethiopia parked a huge bus of red jerseys at the back to keep the hosts at bay.

-Katkego Mphela came close from repeating his memorable feat of scoring metres awy from goak when South Africa were playing against "La fela roja" but the goalkeeper saved the ball and prevented strikers from getting the rebound. He was also denied when his header from Steven Pienaar's cross bounced of the goalkeepers posts. Pienaar's freekick was fisted away by the Ethiopian shot-stopper mid first half.

-What must be concerning most South African football supporters is that the national team has overseas based players that pkay in the big leagues in Europe against world class footballers but they dont pitch for the party when they wear the green and gold of their native country.

-Another concern is that South Africa wikk be playing Botswana in their next match away from home and Botswana is ranked way higher than Ethiopia in World rankings and were the first team to qualify for last years' AFCON although they were hammered in the group stages.

-As usual Bafana were saved from shame and dissapointment by Katlego Mphela when the Mamelodi Sundowns scored on the 77th minute to secure a for the home team, a pride for the nation and a job for Pitso. It was disgraceful to note that more than 70% of the supporters were Ethiopians:South Africans no longer support the national football team and show no belief in it.

Mamabolo breaks SA's dry spell

Ludwick Mamabolo became the first South Africa to win the Comrades Marathon since the 2005 edition. The 35-year old crossed the finish line in 5hrs and 31 minutes to claim the number spot on the podium after a long and challenging journey from Durban to Pietermaritzburg and make his compatriots happy.

-Ludwick is a good insipiration and role model to every one who is determined to succeed because he took a three-month a leave from his regular job at a bank without receiving a salary to prepare for the marathon and now he has been rewarded by his greatest prize in his running career!

Congratulations Mamabolo ant thanks fot representing South Africa on a global scale

Bafana's woes continue

Bafana's winless streak continues as the national team failed to defeat a lowly ranked Ethiopian team that is the 138th best footballing nation in the world. The reason for thid is Aouth Africa's inabikity to create gaok-scoring opportunities and their dependece on Katlego Mphela to score a goal for them. Another dissapointing thing about South African footballers is that they dont show the same determination when they play for the national team.

-Pitso Mosimane and troops will be very concerned heading into a game against Botswana thid weekend- a team that is very much ranked higher than Ethiopia, that is more offencive and that was the first to qualify for the previous  AFCON tournament.
It was saddening to notice that the stadium was filled with with supporters of the visiting team, South Africans no longer believe in the national team.

Meyers' squad selection criticized

-Heyneke Meyers' squad selection has been heavily criticized by the South African rugby public for omitting three crucial players from the aquad who can add a lot of depth to the team. Meyer left out Heinrich Brussow who is a specialist at the breakown down point and the only man who has ever outplayed the talismanic All Black flank Richie McCaw in that regard, Juan de Jongh(centre)-a player who is very good in defence would have been of great importance in neutralising the powerful and speedy English midfielders. Another Cape Townian who is Juans' club teammate  who plays both at fullback and wing Gio Aplon has been left out. Gio is not only solid under the high balls but also can kick long balls into touch thus helping his forwards to relax and gain territorial position. Despite having a physically small body, the Western Province and Stormers fullback can bring big players to the deck.

-Whether or not the newly appointed Bok coach has made a good decision by excluding the trio from the squad it will be seen when the Boks clash against the English in six days time in the opening match of the tour.

-