Friday night in Warsaw: the friendly against Poland nobody really wanted. PLUS: the weekend's final AFCON qualifiers

Ready for Warsaw: Gordon Igesund's Bafana in Poland yesterday... that's Ricard Nunes, middle row, third from right

It’s the friendly football match nobody wanted. South Africa versus Poland on an unforgiving Friday night in Warsaw. Gordon Igesund tried to get it called off. Steven Pienaar retired to avoid it. Even original host city Bydgoszcz rejected Bafana, and the Poles were forced to shift the game to their capital.

That’s not a bad thing. Apart from having too many zees, a riot broke out in Blydgoszcz when they hosted the 2011 Polish Cup final. And we can expect the odd racist chant tomorrow night, the Poles are famous for it. Would you want to play for fun against a team with the unpronounceable nickname “Bialoczerwoni”?

But the game goes on for South Africa against a rugged side filled with Bundesliga stars and ranked 22 places above them by FIFA. And remember, Bafana Bafana have won only once in Europe - that was against not-so-mighty Malta in 2005.

New Poland manager Waldemar Fornalik, with one eye on Tuesday’s key World Cup qualifier against England, must be wondering why they bothered.

His inspirational captain Jakub Blaszczykowski injured an ankle last weekend playing for German champions Borussia Dortmund against Hanover 96 and is out of BOTH games. Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny of Arsenal remains crocked and most bizarrely of all, local Legia Warsaw striker Marek Saganowski suddenly finds himself diagnosed with heart problems.

Still, he has star man Dortmund’s Robert Lewandowski to pit against the fearsome Orlando Pirate Siya Sangweni and struggling PSV Eindhoven keeper Przemyslaw Tyton will make way for former Manchester United understudy Tomasz Kuszczak, now at Brighton, in goal, which should cheer South Africa's expat Polish population estimated at over 30,000.

On an unbeaten run of EIGHT home games, Fornalik – brought in after hosts Poland crashed out of Euro2012 in the group stage - has also called up Legia Warsaw winger Jakub Kosecki and Gornik Zabrze’s Arkadiusz Milik – an 18-year-old with five goals in seven matches this season - but neither have yet been capped by the Poles.

Fornalik says of 22-year-old Jakub, the son of Polish legend Roman Kosecki, who scored twice last weekend against Wisla Krakow: "He's a young player who has played very well this season. Those goals are proof of that. Like Błaszczykowski, he plays well on the flanks and has excellent 1-on-1 skills."

Igesund, who is more intent on preparing for a mid-summer AFCON 2013 at home than playing in Eastern Europe in autumn, has his full named squad to choose from, though veteran strikers Siyabonga Nomvethe and Benni McCarthy were left at home in rehabilitation rather than frail care.

Bernard Parker, the prolific Kaizer Chiefs striker, will lead the line with Dino Ndlovu, who has recovered from the shoulder injury he picked up in the 1-0 defeat against Brazil in Sao Paulo.

The Maccabi Haifa striker said: "If we play with the same mentality we had in Brazil, we should be fine. It’s good to be back. I have played some matches in Israel and my injury is fine.

"The spirit is high which should perhaps work in our favour, we should be okay against Poland."

We're banking on a team that looks like this: Khune; Nthethe, Khumalo (capt), Sangweni, Nunes; Myeni, Dikgacoi, Furman, Buckley; Ndlovu, Parker.

But all eyes will be on unknown Portuguese-South African Ricardo Nunes, 26, who left South Africa as a youngster to join the Benfica academy. Now playing for MSK Zilna in Slovakia, Igesund has had two days to assess the talents of his Johannesburg-born left-sided wingback.

Nunes admits:  “I’ve only seen South African football on the internet, but some of my African team-mates at Zilna talk about the skills there. And I saw the Brazil highlights, so I am confident we can beat Poland.

“I am very excited to be here with my new international team-mates. It was a very special moment to be called up by the land of my birth. I had to sort out my papers first with Fifa before I could accept the call-up but I’m here now!”

While Igesund goes about his unenviable task in Warsaw – I can’t see Bafana winning, a draw would be great - the real African action this weekend comes with the second legs of the AFCON 2013 final qualifiers.

By Sunday night we will know the identities of all the 15 teams headed to join hosts South Africa in January.

Traditional continental big-guns Cameroon need to overcome a 2-0 deficit against the Cape Verde Islands, with Indomitable Lions superstar Samuel Eto’o due to return to the team.

Didier Drogba’s Ivory Coast are 4-2 up against Senegal, but the Elephants can’t afford to slip up in Dakar. Reigning African champions Zambia have put their squad on double-bonuses as they defend a slender 1-0 advantage over Uganda in Kampala.

Elias Pelembe must recover from his mugging last week - which forced him out of Mamelodi Sundowns' defeat against Platinum Stars - to lead Mozambique to Marrakech after their rousing 2-0 first leg win of Morocco in Maputo. The Mambas would be basically playing at home if they get drawn to play at the Mbombela Stadium.

The full AFCON fixture list looks like this:

Saturday 13th

Malawi (0) v (2) Ghana (Lilongwe; 14:h30)

Black Stars should cruise to their 19^th AFCON appearance

Botswana (0) v (3) Mali (Gaberone; 15h00)

Sadly, the Zebras have no chance even in Gaberone

Uganda (0) v (1) Zambia (Kampala; 15h00)

No Rainford Kalaba, but I back the champions to edge it

Tunisia (2) v (2) Sierra Leone (Monastir; 20h15)

Eagles of Carthage can get through on a 0-0 draw

Senegal (2) v (4) Ivory Coast (Dakar; 20h30)

South Africa needs Didier Drogba and the Toures to qualify

Morocco (0) v (2) Mozambique (Marrakech; 21h00)

Black Mambas have every chance of making it, just

Nigeria (2) v (2) Liberia (Calabar;  17h00)               

Super Eagles will be popular here but it’s tough

Sunday 14^th

Cameroon (0) v (2) Cape Verde (Yaounde; 16h00)

With Praia knowledge, Lions should be indomitable

Angola (1) v (3) Zimbabwe (Luanda; 17h00)

Cracker in Luanda, the Warriors should just about make it

Togo (1) v (1) Gabon (Lome, 17h30)

Emmanuel Adebayor should be fit, should be enough for Togo

Equatorial Guinea (0) v (4) DR Congo (Malabo, 20h00)

Plenty of local Congans happy to see their side waltz in

Burkina Faso (0) v (1) Central African Republic (Ougadouguo; 20h00)

CAR not the easy victims they used to be, could make it

Algeria (1) v (0) Libya (Blida, 20h00)

Desert Warriors should add to Libya’s current woes

Ethiopia (3) v (5) Sudan (Addis Ababa; 15h00)

Will we see 8 more goals? Hard to call

Niger (0) v (1) Guinea (Niamey, 17h00)

Niger were lucky to escape a beating in Conakry.

Why the missus didn't get a look-in this weekend... and there's more to come

Court case to come: John Terry and Anton Ferdinand

SOME weekend for sports fans. Maria Sharapova wore a nice strappy frock and won the French Open. The television ratings always rise for the Russian beauty, along with many male members.
The much-hyped mens final between Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal will resume tomorrow afternoon due to rain with Djokovic attempting a comeback after losing the first two sets 6-4 6-3 2-6 1-2.
On the rugby pitch, England were clearly robbed 22-17 by Heyneke Meyer's uncertain Springbulls in Durban, where Kiwi referee Steve Walsh is due to be replaced by South African public enemy number one, Bryce Lawrence for the rest of the series (he said hopefully), New Zealand trounced Ireland, Australia were too much for Wales. Same old, same old.
The Canadian Grand Prix saw a SEVENTH different winner in as many F1 races this season as Lewis Hamilton used his fresh tyres to slip past double champions Sebastien Vettel and Fernando Alonso.
In Las Vegas early on Sunday morning, Manny Pacquiao lost his WBO welterweight title to Timothy Bradley after a highly controversial split points decision. There will doubtless be a rematch, otherwise somebody is going to have to take on Floyd Mayweather when he comes out of jail.
But all this is mere window-dressing on a weekend of footballing humdingers.
In Gaborone, South Africa's new caretaker coach Steve Komphela came in, changed nothing and, unsurprisingly, produced Bafana Bafana's 1,356th successive draw. Apparently this has to do with muti and unpaid songomas rather than Komphela's bizarre decision to stick with the men who curtailed Pitso Mosimane's international coaching career when they drew with Ethiopia. Phokeng hell. And that was just the headline.
With Gordon Igesund leading the hastily assemble SAFA shortlist ahead of Gavin Hunt, Neil Tovey, people's choice Shakes Mashaba and the now-unpopular Komphela, perhaps I should offer this: for many nations, two draws in two World Cup qualifiers is considered something of a coup. In Africa, where coups are common, we should consider a group containing the Central African Republic, Botswana and Ethiopia - who beat CAR 2-0 yesterday to top the group - a free air-ticket to Brazil in 2014.
One unkind Botswanan suggested South Africa, home of AFCON 2013 after Libya shot their president and pulled out, are adopting the "if you can't beat them, host them" philosophy.
This is unfair. South Africa, providing they don't panic and appoint a Serbian to lead the nation, will top their group. After that, with play-offs to decide the meagre five-strong African contingent in Brazil, it's a lottery.
And so to the European Racism Championship. Poland and the Ukraine have done their best to present their fascist face to the world, and when Holland's black players were subjected to racist chanting in their first public appearance, we suddenly realised Sol Campbell's Panorama investigation was more than a hatchet job.
Still, the shows goes on. After two nights of action, no games have been called off, no players have stormed off. Missiles were thrown during Portugal v Germany, but hey, they were hardly intercontinental or ballistic. This is, after all, the battle for Europe, not the world.
At SuperSport headquarters, or more precisely in the roofed garden behind Studio 6 in their Oak Avenue complex, I spent yesterday with the great and the good in the first of our weekly EuroZone series (every Saturday at 4pm, don't miss it, next week it won't start just as Botswana equalise).
The grand old man of football Terry Paine was there. He's been commentating on South African football since Sepp Blatter was a lad. Get him talking about Southampton's promotion to the English Premier League this season, and he's a laugh a minute. In great shape for a man of 73, he brightens visibly when talking about his 50-year-old column in the Southampton Evening Echo. Apparently Southampton - where he still holds the record for club appearances - invited him over to hand out the trophies after their epic rags-to-riches promotion season.
Then there's John Barnes, also part of the SuperSport crew for this Euro2012. He turned up two days late after being told halfway to Johannesburg that he needed a new passport. Barnesie is a great character. He may have missed the 12-minute Opening Ceremony in Warsaw flying backwards and forwards but he told me this joke: "Breaking news: There were incidents of monkey chanting during England's training sesson at Euro2012 yesterday, John Terry has been warned if he doesn't stop, he'll be on the next flight home."
On the more serious allegation that Rio Ferdinand has been omitted from Roy Hodgson's squad because of John Terry's impending court case over racially abusing Rio's brother Anton at QPR, Barnes says: "You have to respect Roy Hodgson's decision. When I said that in England, everyone accused me of supporting Terry. But I wasn't. I just said respect the coach. Personally, I think Rio is England's best centre-back. He should be there."
Terry Paine insists: "The FA have got involved here. They've told Hodgson not to pick Rio. Simple as that."
Also present? Bradley Carnell, who spent 12 years as a professional in Germany, lovely bloke, tells a good tale. The mad Italian Stefano Vigoriti, the knowedgeable Spaniard Ricard Fernandez and of course the beautiful presenters, Carol Tshabalala and Thomas Mlambo.
We get an hour on SuperSport3 every Saturday at 4pm. Might be worth watching.
The football certainly is. Plenty of incident in the opener, where hosts Poland were held 1-1 by Greece with two red cards and a sub-standard Spanish referee. Then the Russians, tipped by both yours truly and Ruud Krol (I had a quick chat with the former Orlando Pirates treble-winner before make-up) crushed the Czech Republic 4-1.
Krol was ushered out in a state of some distress after Holland's shock 1-0 defeat against unfancied Denmark tonight but I can console him with the news that Robin van Persie's boots have been found in Fernando Torres's blue-and-red kit bag.
After that, Cristiano Ronaldo and 10 other blokes in red tried to Germanate Joachim Loew's tournament favourites. Sadly, Mario Gomes scored after 70 minutes and CR7 had no reply. While all that was going on, Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick in Argentina's 4-3 win over rivals Brazil (fielding their Olympic squad in New Jersey, USA) to help us remember Euro2012 is NOT the World Cup. Many described it as the game of the year.
Today World and European Champions Spain were expected to crush an Italian side floored by match-fixing investigations. It ended 1-1. Mario Balotelli didn't wear his Ghanaian surname Barwuah on his shirt, Fernando Torres missed a couple. Habitual scorer Di Natale came on for Balotelli and scored with his first touch for Italy. Cesc Fabregas, the former Gunner now with Barcelona, replied within three minutes for a Spanish side which started without a striker. Spain held 1-1? They lost to Switzerland 2-1 in their WC2010 opener and went on to win it.
Croatia then crushed the Republic of Ireland, much to the chagrin of my late Irish bastard great-grand-dad Collins with Luka Modric writing his CV for that move to Manchester United.
Monday sees England take a pounding from Laurent Blanc's rebuilt France, unbeaten in 21 games, while Sweden versus the Ukraine is anybody's guess. I've got eNews at 8.15am in the morning, my New Age column to write, then my debut on Ballz Radio at 3pm.
The action just doesn't stop. But consider this. South Africa's cricketers go to England next week. There are two more rugby Tests between the nations to come. And then the Olympics in London. Stay tuned. And warn the wife.