African Champions League final: Pirates go to Cairo with a fighting chance thanks to a moment of Matlaba magic

Relief of Orlando: Thabo Matlaba celebrates
his late equaliser on Saturday night

THERE was only one place to be on Saturday night. Orlando. The Pirates. Our African Champions League finalists reaching for the stars, uniting the football-speaking nation.

Trains shooting past, blaring their hooters in support, motorways laced with the skull and crossbones, a packed house of 38,000, an army in black and white, interspersed with those in gold and black adding their voices to the national clamour for a second star.

The stage has rarely been better set, whether you prefer the ear-splitting choir of vuvuzelas or a rousing rendition of Shosoloza.

But much like their successful quest for continental domination in 1995, the home leg of the final was not quite what the nation had hoped for. A 1-1 draw in Soweto.

LEGEND: With 1995 final-winner Jerry Sikhosana
at Orlando Stadium on Saturday

When they drew the home leg of the final 2-2 against Ivory Coast’s ASEC Mimosas 13 years ago, coach Joe Frickleton was sacked before the second leg and few expected that dramatic away win, courtesy of Jerry Sikhosana’s unforgettable 73^rd minute strike.

But Thabo Matlaba’s stunning last-gasp equaliser on Saturday night offers, as I said to coach Roger de Sa immediately after it went in, “a fighting chance” for a side increasingly adept at grabbing draws from the jaws of defeat.

Ah, Drawlando. Their last six Champions League games go LLDDDD. Though the Buccaneers dominated possession – they enjoyed around 68% of the ball - and got plenty of crosses in to the box from Tlou Segolela and Daine Klate, I don’t remember an isolated and impotent Lennox Bacela winning anything in the danger area.

In midfield, the great Andile Jali looked a shadow of his former self, losing possession and growing ever more sluggish as the game against champions and seven-time champions Al Ahly of Egypt wore on. Egypt’s No1 goalkeeper Sherif Ekramy was really stretched only once, brilliantly denying Jali with a strong right hand at full-stretch.

In midfield, Oupa Manyisa pulled the strings and centre-backs Rooi Mahamutsa and Ayanda Gcaba took enormous risks in an effort to push forward after Mohamed Aboutrika’s free-kick had given the visitors a shock lead with a perfectly-placed free-kick from 25 metres.

To be frank, even the too-little-too-late arrival of experienced Zambian striker Collins Mbesuma looked unlikely to save the Pirates, who were lucky to escape a second Al Ahly goal, Ahmed El-Zaher’s effort unfairly ruled offside early in the second half.

Matlaba’s last-gasp effort was as unexpected as it was welcome. Mr De Star insisted afterwards: "We didn’t just sit back, we were offensive, we pushed midfielders in to the attack, we used real wingers, not wide midfielders.

“For the 90 minutes we kept on trying, we didn’t resort to long balls. We didn’t lose our heads. We were patient, we built it up.”

Ultimately, a 1-1 draw – their fourth successive stalemate in the African Champions League – was a highly fortunate result though the frustrated Pirates can rightly claim to have been the better side.

They go to Cairo with captain Happy Jele and midfielder Jali suspended - but the out-of-favour Lucky Lekgwathi and Vieira Masalesa offer obvious replacements.

De Star said: "We still have a fighting chance. There were plenty of coaches in the ground tonight, but I enjoyed it. We showed character, we can turn this around in Cairo next Sunday.

"I don't know if there's a limit to what this lot can achieve, but they just keep pushing. Look, it’s going to be very difficult there’s no doubt about it, but we’ll go there to win."

Truth is, they don’t need to. A 2-2 draw will earn a second star on away goals. 1-1 will force extra-time and penalties. 0-0 will see Al Ahly retain their African crown on that single free-kick, their only real shot on goal away from home.

But to end it as they did in Abidjan 13 years ago, with a win against all the odds, would be a perfect finish to an exhausting Mission Improbable. They have the talent. They have the squad. But do they have the experience against the gritty Egyptians in front of their first real home crowd in months?

BOLLOCKZ! my show on www.ballz.co.za, airs every Thursday from 9am. See the Ballz channel on www.YouTube.com for our growing collection of interviews with the big names in South African football.

You can also follow me on www.twitter.com/nealcol for all the latest sports news… and read my “Neal and Pray” column every Tuesday inwww.thenewage.co.za.

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FOR THE SAKE OF THE NATION: Roger and Gordon get their heads together to solve club v country row

No walking the plank: Gordon Igesund and Roger de Sa

DESASTER! CLUBBED v COUNTRY! BAFANA WALK PIRATES PLANK! Well, BOLLOCKZ! to all the lurid headlines. Gordon Igesund and Roger de Sa did the right thing today, getting their heads together to sort out the thorny club v country row which threatened to overshadow Madiba's footballing birthday celebrations.

The first hint of peace came early this morning when Orlando Pirates coach De Sa told me: "Gordon is one of the good guys. He is a reasonable person - we talked nicely. My players won't be playing for South Africa in the friendly against Nigeria. Hats off to Gordon for agreeing on that.

“We are doing this for the sake of the nation"

Then the call from Igesund: "Roger and I talked sensibly. I felt I couldn't pick a squad without any Pirates after their historic 3-0 win over Al Ahly. I knew this situation could arise, but once we'd talked about what South Africa needs, we agreed to go without the Buccaneers.

 “We have a friendly against Nigeria. For Pirates, the home game against Zamalek is the game of their lives. But Roger didn’t demand their release, he requested it. I thank him for that.

“There are times when you have to put the best interests of the nation first."

And there it was. Sorted. For the good of the game. And all on my radio show BOLLOCKZ an hour before the official announcement. Pirates, fresh from that historic 3-0 win over the African champions in Egypt, will save their players on the 14th for their clash with Zamalek on the 17th at the Orlando Stadium.

A second successive win over the Pharoahs will all but secure their place in the top half of Group A. Senzo Meyiwa, Thabo Matlaba, Andile Jali, Oupa Manyisa, Thandani Ntshumayelo and Daine Klate will NOT run the risk of injury which could derail the quest for a second star to follow the now-legendary 1995 success.

Igesund, meanwhile, will have to put Jali's international comeback on hold for Nigeria at the Moses Mabhida in Durban on the 14th. He already knew Mandela Day - which sees the rugby Springboks play Argentina too - would be staged against Burkina Faso on the 17th at Soccer City without Roger’s Sea Robbers.

Having already picked a squad of 28 – Gordon knew he would also have to do without his overseas contingent for the second game – Igesund has called up SuperSport United’s pair of former Swallows Bennett Chenene and David Mathebula as reinforcements following the Pirates announcement.

What’s refreshing about this situation is that there was no war of words as their might have been when club and country fall out in Europe. No Sir Alex Ferguson declaring Manchester United players with mysterious injuries, no aggrieved England coach crying foul.

That two men under such huge pressure can come to an amicable agreement is a real boost for South African football – especially when you consider Igesund MUST win his final World Cup qualifier against Botswana in Durban on September 7 to stand any chance of qualifying for Brazil 2014.

Igesund, who is relying on Ethiopia to drop points against the Central African Republic in Bangui, said: “Look Neal, I had to pick the best squad I could. That’s my job. I always knew I would lose nine players after the Nigeria game. Now I’m only losing three – with Chenene and Mathebula coming in.

“I did call  (goalkeeper) Darren Keet’s agent in Belgium and asked if he’d be available for the Mandela Sports day game on  the 17^th but it’s not a FIFA date and his club (KV Kortrijk) are in action that weekend. But to be honest, I was going to start with Itumeleng Khune for both games anyway.”

Speaking on my www.ballz.co.za show BOLLOCKZ! (see video below), Roger said: “Gordon understood where I was coming from. We have a good working relationship. Common sense prevailed.”

BOLLOCKZ! my show on www.ballz.co.za, airs every Thursday from 10am-noon. You can also follow me on www.twitter.com/nealcol for all the latest sports news… and read my “Neal & Pray” column every Tuesday in www.thenewage.co.za. A shorter version of THIS story will be published in The New Age on Tuesday.

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HISTORICAL, HYSTERICAL: Orlando Pirates 3 (three, drie, trois, drei), El Ahly 0 (niks, nothing, nada, zilch)

Walking the plank: El Ahly goalkeeper Ekramy in Al-Gouna yesterday

القراصنة ثلاثة أهداف، "الأهلي لا شيء

I am reliably informed the sentence above is Arabic for “Orlando Pirates three goals, El Ahly NONE.”

And really, despite a fascinating start to our own Professional Soccer League, that is THE story of the weekend. Egyptian giants El Ahly hadn’t failed to score a goal at home since 2004. But Roger de Sa’s continental crushers gave them the kind of beating we won’t forget for a long, long time.

An opening goal from Thandani Ntshumayelo after an astonishing interchange with Collins Mbesuma made it 1-0 after 18 minutes, then came an incredible THIRD successive African Champions League penalty save from Senzo Meyiwa from Waleed Soliman in the 38th minute.

Just before half-time, the Algerian referee sent off Ahmed Abdul Zaher for dissent as he howled about yet another crunching Pirates tackle – and El Ahly, the defending African champions and three-time winners, never really recovered.

The second half belonged to Andile Jali. First he converted a 73rd minute penalty after Fathy (pronounced Farty) had felled Daine Klate, then – two minutes later – the Bafana reject produced a delightful little scooped pass to put Sifiso Myeni away for the third goal.

And that was it. In front of a windy, empty stadium at El Gouna on the Red Sea coast, the Egyptians were simply flabbergasted by the Pirates defence – the ageless Lucky Lekgwathi (estimates put him at 37) saved one of the line and tackled with all the subtlety of a Pharoah’s tomb.

It was at half-time I sent the under-pressure Pirates coach De Sa my usual SMS. Ths one said: “YOU FYCKING BEAUTY! ROGER DE SA YOU ARE A LEGEND!” He replied with "Yeeeepeeee" (see screen grab of SMSes above).

After the match, Roger said: “Fantastic result but look, we’re not getting carried away, there’s still four games to go in the group.

“I’m very happy but now I have to make sure we stay grounded – and get positive results.”

So you can rave all you want about Kaizer Chiefs’ hard-earned 1-0 win over promoted Mpumalanga Black Aces on Friday night. Clive Barker’s Dogs weren’t a million miles from humbling Stuart Baxter’s double-winning Gods in the PSL’s opening salvo.

And we can praise Cavin Johnson’s SuperSport United – 4-1 winners over Steve Khompela’s Free State Stars on Saturday – or Pitso Mosimane’s Monyloadi Signdowns for their 3-1 at tricky Bloemfontein Celtic. Some might say both were aided by harsh red cards.

But nothing compares with Pirates’ epic victory in El-Gounah. They go top of Group A on goal difference from Congo champions AC Leopards, who saw off Zamalec 1-0 in Dolisie.

Egypt’s Red Devils’ hadn’t lost at home since Tunisia’s Etoile Sahel beat them 3-1 in Cairo to lift the Champions League trophy six years ago. The game was played in afternoon heat and a gusting wind – but nothing could stop De Sa’s Buccaneers.

That second star may not be as impossible as we once assumed. As I said on twitter, a 3-0 win in Egypt is like the Springboks triumping 60-0 in Wellington or the Proteas enjoying a six-wicket victory in Delhi. Unthinkable.

BOLLOCKZ! my show on www.ballz.co.za, airs every Thursday from 10am-noon. 

You can also follow me on www.twitter.com/nealcol for all the latest sports news… and read my “Neal & Pray” column every Tuesday inwww.thenewage.co.za. A shorter version of THIS story will be published in The New Age on Tuesday.

#BOLLOCKS is backed by www.topodds.com - have a look at their site for my latest sports betting advice!

Pick him or explain: Bafana boss Gordon Igesund's get out of Jali free card

Orlando Irates: Igesund has ignored Andile Jali

The little terrier in the midfield was 16 and playing in an under 19 tournament in Port Elizabeth when Clive “The Dog” Barker first spotted the unique talent that is Andile Jali.

That was in 2006 when no-prisoners midfielder Rino Gattuso was strutting his stuff for Milan in a very similar style. Jali, a scholar at Khanya Naledi Combined school in Itsokolele near Matatiele, came through the local All Stars academy on the border of KwaZulu Natal, the Eastern Cape and Lesotho.

Known locally as Cheese-Mnana, local coach Salathiso Ntabeni had him playing adult football from from the tender age of 15 at Hots Spurs FC before he joined Vodacom Soccer league club Matatiele Professionals.

Ntabeni apparently had to present Andile Ernest Jali’s birth certificate several times to prove there was no dodgy business going on in that Easter tournament in Port Elizabeth seven years ago. And within 12 months, Jali had been recommended to AmaTuks coach Steve Barker by his uncle Clive, where his talent was nurtured alongside Bongani Khumalo and Lerato Chabangu.

History tells us all three went on to bigger things.

Jali – often nicknamed Gattuso - is now 22 and has won SIX trophies since his 2009 move to Orlando Pirates, not to mention 11 Bafana caps despite missing the World Cup with a “minor heart ailment” which has not been mentioned since he was sent for specialist treatment in Florida, USA, in May, 2010.

Now the fairy tale has hit another snag. Though still incredibly young by international standards, Jali finds himself in the World Cup wilderness under no-nonsense Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund, who also overlooked him for the African Cup of Nations earlier this year.

When he picked his first squad for the Brazil 2014 qualifiers this month, Igesund went to great pains to explain why he had dropped his captain, Bongani “Mr English” Khumalo, and Ajax Amsterdam midfielder Thulani “Our Messi” Serero from his 23.

He told us Khumalo was suffering a “slight injury” and was only on the bench at Greek club PAOK. Serero’s elimination was even more damning: “He needs mental strength. During the African Cup of Nations he was scared of getting injured.”

But when asked why Jali, who looked like a world beater in the Confederations Cup as a lively teenager nearly four years ago, was not included, Igesund growled: “I won’t discuss players who aren’t in my squad.”

Bang. Off-the-record conversations with Barker, Pirates coach Roger de Sa and other well-connected sources offer no clear reason for this baffling Bafana boycott of one of the PSL’s most talented midfielders.

Perhaps, in an unnecessary interview with Kickoff magazine, these words from the little man himself may help to explain: “People do not understand me – they never will – and it’s not my job to make them understand.

 “I don’t know why, but a lot of people have a problem with me. Most people do not know the real Andile, they just know that I play for Orlando Pirates and because of that they think they know me.

 “I will not be told what to do by who think that they know me. They spread rumours that Andile is like this or that. Those who know me will tell you what kind of person I am. Those who don’t know me? That is their problem.”

These are hardly the words of a player eager to build Bafanesque bridges.

I have, despite efforts by phone, twitter and email, no searing insight in to the Jali psyche. He has occasionally slipped up, been accused of typically footballish incidents and upsets. One coach suggests he has a temper, there are whispers of a particular training ground bust-up and he was bailed along with team-mate Ndumiso Mabena on allegations of assault in 2011, though charges were later withdrawn.

But there is no career-damaging record of ill-discipline or no-I-in-team behaviour that I can uncover.

During the 2010 World Cup, where those heart problems saw him left out after a storming 
Confederations Cup, the German scouts in camp at Velmore near Erasmia also expressed a worry over his lack of physical stature. But as I said to them then, Lionel Messi, Jermain Defoe and Shaun Wright-Phillips are hardly giants.

Dean Furman, the super-fit Doncaster rover who has (unless you’re a Buccaneer) replaced Jali in Bafana’s affections, is surprisingly slight too. Both lack aerial power, perhaps their only weakness in the demanding defensive midfield role.

My view, brought on by Sunday Times Sports Editor Bareng-Batho Kortjaas’s column the day BEFORE Bafana’s rousing 2-0 win over the Central African Republic, is that Jali SHOULD feature in the squad.

When Furman was injured in a clash of heads and was forced off by double vision just before half-time in Cape Town last Saturday, Bafana suffered a 10-minute spell where Jali’s presence as Furman’s replacement was sorely missed after half-time.

Ironically, Oupa Manyisa – Jali’s Piratical partner – filled that hole when he came on and shape returned.

There are those who say Igesund is above critique right now, having – with just one win – restored hopes of a miraculous Brazilian crusade.

But for as long as Jali remains out of the squad, the question will continue to bug Igesund’s as-yet-unsecure tenure until 2018. It is simply not good enough to write him off as “not good enough” or to fall back on the tired old “I spoke to his coach” explanation.

And “I won’t discuss players not in the squad” will only further goad the typically bolshie Buccaneers, who point out Jali’s role in their recent double-treble reign.

The “get out of Jali free card” is in Gordon’s hands now. If Jali plays well for Pirates until the end of the season, Igesund MUST pick him for the still-in-doubt trip to war torn central Africa on June 7 – or offer a full explanation.

The black-and-white half of our footballing nation deserves at least that.

PS: Crystal Palace fan Ed Aarons, the former Citizen football correspondent now working for the Independent in London, offers this view on Kagiso Dikgachoi, the man Gordon prefers to Jali: "KG has been played out of position of late so hard to judge but lost place in centre to young Joniesta. Think best years are behind him."

Idols winner Khaya Mthethwa on God, singing, his dad, Orlando Pirates... and Mario Balotelli

Champ: Khaya and me this morning

Khaya Mthethwa is South Africa’s shiniest new star. But a single sleepness night after winning the biggest reality show in the history of South African broadcasting there he was, an ordinary bloke with a beaming smile.

A Buccaneer. With a touch of Mario Balotelli thrown in.

Truth is, the man crowned winner of Idols is a thoroughly nice chap – and an ardent supporter of English Premier League Champions Manchester City, not to mention South Africa’s PSL treble champions Orlando Pirates.

I caught up with him in the cramped lobby outside my producer’s box at 702 in Sandton. There was the usual congratulatory hug then I asked the vital question: which football team do you support?

“It’s got to be Manchester City,” he grinned, “They’re the best team I’ve seen. Mario Balotelli? Oh yes!”

But locally? “Orlando Pirates… I’m a Buccaneer! I love my football, I play when I can, always loved it. I played at school. And Andile Jali should be in the Bafana Bafana squad!”

Khaya is not typical starry-eyed wannabe using reality television to hit the heights. He’s a God-fearing lad from Durban. Eager to please, modest, grateful. He started his morning at 702 with my Early Breakfast host Shaka Sisulu, referring to him as “Mr Sisulu” and replying to questions about media pressure by recalling: “I got some valuable advice from one of the judges, Gareth Cliff. He said, as long as I live my life thruthfully, I have nothing to fear from anyone.

“Right now, at this moment in this studio at 10 to six in the morning, I am the happiest man in South Africa. And I hardly feel tired at all!”

Later, on John Robbie’s breakfast show, Khaya revealed: “I am a completely different person to the man I was three months ago. Then I was a musician struggling to make a living, to prove to my parents I could make it.

“At school we were all forced to audition for the school choir, my teachers would ask me to sing and I never really wanted to!

”But both my parents are pastors at our church and that’s where I fell in love with music and I decided that this is what I wanted to do.

“I remember the first audition in uShaka Marine World in Durban. I was nearly falling asleep, I’d been waiting for so long to do my piece, the queues were huge. But the judges gave me my chance.

“The most important thing was to convince my dad I was doing the right thing. But after the Theatre Week he was convinced. My whole family came to watch every one of my live Idols shows. Even when they should have been doing other things. I’m so grateful for that.

 “I look up my father, he is my hero. He taught me to be the man I am today.

“You won’t believe the amount of work DSTV do behind the scenes to make sure I am prepared for this moment. It’s enormous. They teach you how to deal with the hype, the social media, the attention. It’s like they stick you in a microwave, push a button and you come out ready.”

Robbie, the former Irish rugby player and tough-tackling, award-winning interviewer, didn’t take it easy on Mthethwa. When he compared him “all young and athletic” to the three men in court for the murder of former heavyweight boxing champion Corrie Sanders this week, Khaya didn’t flinch. He said: “I just hope I can be a role model for young people in South Africa, that they can see what can be achieved. There is another way.”

Robbie warned the devout Christian how his faith would be tested, how he would experience things he had never expected as a reality television star. But Khaya took it all on the chin, leaving Robbie raving: “Honestly, I’ve never watched Idols in my life. I only grabbed Khaya in the corridor outside because I knew he’d won, and I‘m always interested in winners.

“I have to say, after talking to him, he is one of the most impressive young men I have ever met. An absolute joy to talk to.”

There are political undertones of course. Khaya’s victory – the first Idols win by a black South African in eight attempts – came at the expense of the extremely attractive rival finalist Melissa Alison with a record THREE MILLION votes cast in the weeks building up to Tuesday night’s sparkling finale at Mosaiek Tatro in Fairland.

But Khaya, a staunch Christian and a member of Joyous Celebration, insists he “gets sad" about the race issue. It was left to his close pal and radio presenter Akhumzi Jezile to say: “I’ve never seen so many black people excited about Idols.”

And as Khaya prepares for a new life armed with a winners’ cheque of R1m and a recording contract with Universal Music, Jezile added: "I believed in Khaya from his first audition. When he decided to enter, he came to my mom's house carrying a stack of CDs. The only one I remember was Bruno Mars. And that was what got him through his first audition – Bruno’s The Way You Are."