Backed by the Almighty, Komphela claims the early plaudits: but can the Soweto Giants catch Mamelodi Sundowns?

KOMPHELA'S FIRST TROPHY: Kaizer Chiefs celebrate on Saturday

THE gimmicky opening game of the South African season, bizarrely re-christened the Carling Champions Cup, is NOT an accurate guide to the coming PSL season. Let's get that clear from the off.

Much of Saturday's clash was a battle between LAST SEASON’S Soweto Giants. And as expected, Kaizer Chiefs, who finished fifth in the PSL earlier this year, were too good for Orlando Pirates, who finished seventh.

It was only in the second half we started to see some of the new signings but with a myriad of substitutions, not too much can be read in to the AmaKhozi’s much-celebrated 2-0 win.

But there were encouraging signs. For once, the Black Label trophy was not decided on penalties. Tower Mathoho and Itumeleng Khune, who both immediately fly out to the Rio Olympics as over-age players, showed glimpses of real class.

Molomowanadou, the Mouth of the Lion from Venda, scored at one end and saved off the line at the other while Khune, taken off with a shin injury in a friendly for the Olympic-bound Bafana Bafana against Bidvest Wits barely a week before, looked fit - even after that nasty clash with Thamsanqa Gabuza.

Zambian signing Lewis Macha came on with a plethora of new faces late in the game and peeled off to score a near-perfect header after Pirates new signing Bernard Morrison had started threatening a super-sub equaliser.

And let’s be honest: though we joke about the same two sides always getting to the final of this pre-season, vote-for-your-life friendly, it was fun and the FNB Stadium was pleasantly packed.

Thoughts now will move on to Owen da Gama’s side and their opening Olympic clash against hosts Brazil - hopefully Khune and Mathoho will be ready to play on Thursday and a friendly against the local police will be enough to prepare our boys.

The PSL doesn’t kick off until August 23 this season but we have to make some sort of judgement based purely on 90mins of pre-season frolicking.

New Pirates boss Muhsin Etrugral and his former Free State Stars assistant Bradley Carnell were eager to point out it wasn’t as bad as it looked for Pirates fans, alluding to the army of new signings still settling at the club.

They’re right of course - but will Willard Katsande in destroyer mode and Pule Ekstein showing early form, the Buccaneers were overwhelmed in midfield, and there were worrying faults in the Sea Robbers’ defensive line for the full 90 minutes.

As always, Chiefs coach Steve Komphela  was the post-match preacher telling us how the Almighty was required and how important it was to “be a team, not a collection of players we’ve picked up”.

Earlier in the week, Komphela announced he wasn’t entirely happy with his new recruits, suggesting they weren’t his choices but as the celebrations bloomed around him on Saturday evening, he said: “I'll count the number of strikers: Macha, Letlotlo, Katsvairo, Moon, Manqele, Mthembu, eh... The list is going on and on, you must choose one.”

And really, that’s the one thing we can say about the Carling Champions Cup. Neither side got close to champion status last season but if Macha, who has just one cap for Zambia, can carry on like he did on Saturday, Komphela’s greatest headache will be relieved.

Komphela said: "I'm happy for Macha, he's a strong boy. I hope whatever we are working towards, will come out the way we wish and with the Almighty behind us, I'm sure we can make these people proud."

Like every club in South Africa apart from Mamelodi Sundowns and their CBD, finding a striker who can score ten goals in a season is all that is required for the AmaKhosi. And the Buccaneers. Let’s hope Macha or Morrison can fulfil that dream.

With Masandawana through to the African Champions League semi-finals and both SuperSport United and last season's runners-up Bidvest Wits gearing up more quietly the new season will be unpredictable.

Promoted NFD champions Boroka and play-off Highlands Park have made huge numbers of signings while the re-born Cape Town City simply cannot be assessed yet. Chippa United under Dan Malesela have mopped up some quality players from Soweto, Free State Stars are recovering form the abortive Panyaza Lesufi bid.

It's impossible to tell how the PSL will shake down this season. But two things seem likely: Sundowns will be up there again and Ea Lla Koto have a lot of work to do.

EXCLUSIVE: Gordon Igesund: The Master Plan that will put Bafana among the world's top 20 - and Africa's TOP THREE

GORDON IGESUND is ready to unveil his “master plan” with new SAFA president Danny Jordaan – and he firmly believes he can put South African football in the world’s top 20.

Currently ranked 61st by FIFA and cruelly forced out of the World Cup by Ethiopia, Igesund was eager to appear on my football show BOLLOCKZ! to reassure Bafana fans: “We are on the right track. It won’t happen overnight, but we will reap the benefits.”

With detractors suggesting Puma had ended their sponsorship of Bafana yesterday – they actually announced their termination on January 4 this year - Igesund insists: “It’s been a very tough year but the national team has come on in leaps and bounds, we need to put things in perspective.

“When you really start looking at the whole situation, one can see there’s been huge improvement. Over the last year we’ve restored pride and passion in the team. A lot of commitment from the players.

“Previously it was just a static situation, the same group of players playing every week for Bafana. We’ve introduced a lot of young players to the squad, our technical team has worked hard to find them.”

Turning specifically to last Friday’s 1-1 draw against Morocco in Agadir, where a packed house of 46,000 were celebrating the opening of a glittering new stadium, Igesund pointed out: “Against a team with a lot of good players from Spain and Germany, people who play against players like Ronaldo and Messi every week, we put up a performance.

“Passion, commitment. It makes me happy. We had two 20-year-olds, two 21-year-olds. It wasn’t actually a well-drilled team, it was our first match together. Playing for your national team should be the ultimate for any player.

“Now I’m getting emails from South Africans all over the world. Players who play in the Scottish Second Division asking me to keep an eye on their performances.”

Appointed last year after disappointing World Cup Group A draws against Ethiopia at home and Botswana away, Igesund – the only man to win the domestic PSL title with four different clubs – reflects: “Overall it’s been a great year. Very positive things have happened. It’s not easy to go to Morocco, they were desperate to win. My centre-halves had never played together before. These things take time.

“There were five or six players who had never played together before. There was a period when we were playing the ball around, their fans starting applauding us.

“We’ve got a new identity now. The same style, philosophy, we want to attack teams. We’re scoring goals. I’m happy with the way things are going but there is an awful lot of work still to do.

“The big problem is development. Imagine if our youngsters had played in Under 17, Under 20 teams. Some of these guys? It was their first taste of international fooball at any level

“We need to develop players for the national team. They’ve had to come straight in to the Bafana line-up.

“Our Under 17s and Under 20s aren’t active at the moment. But we’re working on that. We need players coming through who know how to react, know their role. It’s not easy but we’re getting there.

“We need to make sure our players are involved in FIFA competitions, play in Europe, play the German Under 23 team. Gain that experience. That’s what’s important.

“That’s all going to happen. The announcement of our new Under 17 and Under 23 coaches will happen in the next couple of weeks. We want a youngster of 21 to have played 30 games for Bafana.

“We acknowledge things haven’t been done properly in recent years. We have to stop the quick-fix. Look for long term solutions. But it takes time.

“The structures are all in place, we just have to make the announcement. Kagiso Nthle is only 19. He needs to grow up playing against players like Ronaldo, Under 15, Under 17, eventually they get to the senior national team and THEY KNOW. They can mark him, they can do this.

“It’s all very exciting but it’s not going to happen overnight. In five or six years, we’ll see the benefits. There’s another group of players out there we don’t know about. Players who are going to be the superstars, as we’re talking, 20 youngsters of 15 or 16 with tremendous ability. We have to develop them.

“We need top quality coaches, the school football, the amateurs at grass roots level. Even from nine years old. Real Madrid have just beaten Barcelona to sign a NINE YEAR OLD! That’s what we need to be doing.

“Time flies. He’s NINE now, but in five years he’s a professional signing for a club. We were isolated for many years, now we have to find these players.

“I can talk about it with you for hours and hours, but we have to put it into practice, which we haven’t done for years.

“Every player who plays for Bafana HAS to come through our structures. Our AFCON and COSAFA squads? We had 17 players who had NEVER played for Bafana at any other level.

“Our football will be among the best in the world. We have the players, with touch, mobility. They need good coaching. They need these structures. But it’s not going to happen overnight. We have to start the process now. This is why we are where we are right now.

“When I read the Sports Minister’s comments, I was very pleased about this. Everyone can see the national team has come on in leaps and bounds. I enjoy criticism, football is about opinions, but reall and truly, we are on the right track now.

“We’ve got tough times ahead of us, but after that, our country will benefit. We’ll be in the top 20 in the world, the top three in Africa.

“Sometime in the future there has to be an African winner of the World Cup. Why can’t that be South Africa?”

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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