Guest writer Fanele Mbuyazi: Proteas Mission Complete as AB De Villiers hits 8,000-run landmark

Crying for the Proteas: Fanele Mbuyazi

Today's GUEST WRITER is Fanele Mbuyazi (@FaneleMbuyazi8) on twitter. He's 25, from a family of four, without a father since he was six. Fanele has a B Com and has worked in radio production with NEMISA and Mr Price Radio - until the station closed in July. He now works at a call centre for Mr Price.

Fanele says: "You can safely predict my breakfast, lunch and supper: soccer, cricket, rugby, tennis. Frank Lampard is my favourite player of all time. Orlando Pirates, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Werder Bremen are my soccer teams. Bafana Bafana, the Springboks and the Proteas will forever be in my heart!

"Through my love of sports, I have developed great friendship with people such as Andre Bloem, Aslam Khota, Victor K and needless to say Neal Collins."

FACT ABOUT FANELE: He cried when New Zealand knocked us out of the 2015 Cricket World Cup.

The Proteas completed their revenge on New Zealand as they secured a 2-1 One Day International series victory in Durban on Wednesday.

It wasn’t a crisp display as uncharacteristic, poor fielding dominated much of the day against our 2015 World Cup conquerors. South Africa dropped so many chances in the field and New Zealand also didn’t field to their potential as both teams showed a lot of untidiness.

Fielding certainly emerged an area of concern for Russell Domingo’s men after AB de Villiers won the toss under cloudy Durban skies and elected to bat first. 

The Proteas amassed 283 for 7 in their allotted 50 overs. Chief contributors? The captain himself with a brilliant 64, in the process becoming the fastest man ever to 8 000 ODI runs -yet another record for this superhuman sportsman.

Veteran wicketkeeper Morne Van Wyk made a welcome 54 at the top of the order and a useful 40 from the loved-to-be-hated Farhaan Behardien at the back end. In their chase New Zealand fell 62 runs short in the last over. 

But the big question has not been answered yet by Cricket SA: the number 6 and 7 spots belong to the all-important all-rounders.

Between David Wiese and Behardien, they both tried but the truth? Nobody really raised a hand and claimed their place with both hands.

Wiese struggles with the bat, while Farhaan isn't bowling well. With JP Duminy and Faf du Plessis to return, you feel there wasn’t much progress done in terms of selection.  

The selection criteria remain the most talked about factor as the series ended - and a tough trip to India beckons.

Kagiso Rabada, our inspiring 20-year-old fast bowler, has barely put a foot wrong in his international career to date. But he has been dropped twice already without any real explanation.

First in Bangladesh and again in the second ODI defeat against New Zealand in Potchefstroom.

If this was the experimental series, why you drop such a young prospect at the back of an impressive display by the young star?

Fuel on the fire: no explanation given by Cricket South Africa. How much good will that do the young man?

Is that how we want to groom our young and upcoming talents?

Next for the Proteas it’s a mountain to climb in India where the Proteas start with two T20’s on October 2, followed by 5 ODIs before closing the tour with the Tests, where South Africa remain No 1 in the world rankings.

How will the new and experienced combinations handle the Indian pressure? Will Rabada play throughout? Only time will tell.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED: De Sa and Igesund pose a threat to the big guns

Lurking: Igesund and De Sa

There is only one place to be this weekend. The Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday hosts the MTN8 final between unbeaten Kaizer Chiefs and resurgent arch-rivals Orlando Pirates. Stuart Baxter v VV will dominate the week for South Africa’s football-speaking majority.

To dare to predict the outcome of a game which sold out on Computicket in the space of for hours would be difficult, not to say deceptive… even dangerous. The AmaKhosi have played nine games this season, six in the PSL, and they’ve wwwwwwwwwwon them all. BuccaBucca fans will point out they are heading for a FIFTH successive cup final, an achievement as statistically improbable as it is laudable.

There will be 56,000 in Durban on Saturday enthusiastically pointing out the Forever Fearless revival of Reneilwe Letsholonyane or the Once Always option of starting with Kermit Erasmus or Lehlohonolo Majoro.

Me? I’m colour blind. Black and Gold? Black and White? It’s all the same to me, especially when your soft spot for rock-bottom AmaZulu leaves you feeling green about the gills.

More importantly perhaps, as Chiefs and Pirates take a week off league action for the R8m on offer from MTN, is what’s bubbling quietly beneath them in the PSL.

Obviously Gavin Hunt’s big spending Bidvest Wits and Pitso Mosimane’s champions Mamelodi Sundowns will enjoy their time off (Wits restart the PSL action on the 26^th against AmaZulu) before resuming the battle for the title that REALLY matters.

But I am here to warn of two quiet revolutions going on in South African football. One involves the sheer youthful exuberance of Roger de Sa at Ajax Cape Town. The other, the hard-bitten, silver-lined experience of Gordon Igesund at SuperSport United.

On Saturday, former Pirates boss De Sa, with 19 academy graduates in his 23-man squad, kept his side unbeaten in second place, four points behind Chiefs, with a 2-1 win over Bloemfontein Celtic.

Did he boast about it? Did he roar a warning to the big guns? No, De Sa simply said: “If we are going to be serious League challengers then we have got to score that third and fourth goal and we need to learn to do that."

It was De Sa who got Pirates to their first THREE Cup finals, including the big one, the African Champions League. Now surrounded by the young and impressionable rather than the over-paid and sinister, he chides: "We gave away a silly goal. Bad defending and bad goalkeeping didn’t help. We should have killed them off.”

A lot further down the table lies the other threat to the big guns. The return of Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund was always going to be interesting. After an uncomfortable two years in charge of the national squad, he returns to his real speciality: winning PSL titles.

As the only man to do exactly that with FOUR different clubs, Igesund settled in to Cavin Johnson’s hot-seat at SuperSport United and immediately inspired a 3-1 win over Platinum Stars to keep the club out of the relegation zone after a difficult start.

Igesund purred: "All national coaches start out in club football. I’m just thrilled to be back. You miss the day to day running of the club; every morning you wake up and get excited about going to training.

“With the national team you have to get your players three days before a game; they come in from overseas, and you have to do a lot of work and then go and play. Now, I’m back to working daily with my players and building relationships.

"I am loving it, and I’m so excited to be back. They had no confidence, and they were demoralized after having played 5 games and only one win. You have to pick them up and lift their spirits, and that's how I felt when I got here.”

“We will get better as we go along. It’s only one win for us; we need to go forward now and try to pick up as many points as we can.”

Stuart Baxter and Vladimir Vermecovic will dominate the week. Mosimane and Hunt will gain a mention. But if we’re not talking about De Sa and Igesund by the end of the season, I’d be surprised.

SOCCERBALLZ! my innovative football show on www.ballz.co.za with Mark Fish airs every Thursday from 9am-11am. See Ballz' Youtube channel for our growing library of fascinating football interviews with the big names.

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 in www.thenewage.co.za.

My interview with Kermit Erasmus on Socerballz last week:

Football heaven for a Gooner on the Indian Ocean surrounded by Pirates

There's no point pretending. For me, Saturday by the sea in Durban was footballing heaven in a city where the diski sun doesn't always shine (just ask Golden Arrows).




It started early with the Super Rugby Sharks overcoming New Zealand's Crusaders despite red and yellow cards. An historic win to enthuse the locals, of which I was once one in the distant days of Umlazi's Bush Bucks.






Then to the sold out Moses Mabhida Stadium, where all roads were festooned with black and white.



Playing in a record FOURTH cup final this season, the Buccaneers went behind early but fought back to win 3-1 with Kermit Erasmus, a Nedbank Cup final loser with SuperSport United a year ago, the two goal hero.






Then to Europe where my beloved Arsenal, without a trophy since their penalty shoot-out win over Manchester United in 2005, found themselves 2-0 down to lowly Hull City's Tigers after eight minutes at Wembley.






Santi Cazorla crashed home the first response, Laurent Koscielny forced the game in to extra-time and Aaron Ramsey produced the epic winner to send the Gunners home happy and push me to the top of the twitter trends in distant Johannesburg.






And at the same time, Diego Simeone's unfancied Atletico Madrid held Barcelona 1-1 to clinch La Liga with a Champions League final against city rivals Real to come.



There were cup finals in Scotland, Germany and elsewhere we could mention, but in truth those three epic games concludes a lively season for most football-speaking South Africans.



Arsenal and Atleti will welcome a long-awaited return to ascendancy (as I write this next to the Indian Ocean, Arsene Wenger's trophy drought stands at around 22 hours) but it Dr Irvin Khoza who may be the most relieved man of all.



The controversial owner of our plundering Piratesmust have been wondering what had happened to his double-treble winners over the last couple of seasons.



With all those games in hand after the African Champions League we might have expected something slightly better than fourth in the PSL (they finished third last season) and the return of Vladimir Vermezovic looked like a serious problem.



But what was it VV said when the reached this fourth final? "These boys know how to reach finals, I know how to win them."



That proved more than an idle boast. Adding up those four finals (MTN8, Telkom KO, African Champions League and Nedbank) I reckon the Buccaneers added a cool R20m to their coffers this season.



And with Kaizer Chiefs stumbling when it mattered, a single come-from-behind triumph turned everything around for the Pirates - just like it did for Arsenal and Atletico.



But Simeone's troops still have the Champions League final to come. That's quite a big but. in any language.

From the bottom to the top: Craig Rosslee explains his 10-month revolution at AmaZulu

Leader of the green revolution: Craig Rosslee

Explain this: Ten months ago, AmaZulu were marooned at the bottom of the PSL. Today, they are level on points at the top of South African fooball.

It’s the kind of turnaround which creates legends in Europe. But in South Africa, AmaZulu’s rise from the ashes has gone almost unnoticed.

The key to the AmaZulu revolution is the coach Craig Rosslee, a former Hellenic, Santos and Cape Town Spurs defender who went on to coach Ajax Cape Town and played a major part in Orlando Pirates first treble as assistant to Ruud Krol in 2009/2010.

When Rosslee took over AmaZulu in November last year, the famous cries of Usuthu! were muted. The club had managed just nine points from 12 games under Swedish boss Roger Palmgren and they trailed behind Chippa United and Leopards, the clubs destined for relegation. Under Rosslee, they took 20 points from their remaining 18 games to secure safety in 12^th position.

This season they have 11 points from their first five games and share the top of the PSL with SuperSport United, Kaizer Chiefs, Mamelodi Sundowns and Moroka Swallows.

Rosslee, also an accomplished television analyst, told me on my football show BOLLOCKZ! on Ballz visual radio (see video at the foot of this story): “Ten months! Obviously my first task was to keep the club up last season. We had nine points when I arrived, we got clear of relegation, we ended safely in mid-table.

“At the end of the season we decided to make some changes. We shipped out 17 players, brought in 15. We only kept a handful of the old players.

“At this point in time it’s a work in progress. The aim is to get the players to gel, to get them playing together. It’s coming along nicely now. We’re doing it in a very professional way, we have character, guys who do the work. That’s what we’re looking for.

“If this squad can apply themselves, both on and off the field, I see a great future for the club.”

In charge of one of South Africa’s oldest clubs (founded in 1932 only Wits University (1921) is older), Rosslee grins: “Remember I played for AmaZulu, like you I remember the Joel Fayas. This job is more about what I can give back than what I can take from this club.

“The Royal Family back us, the people look to us. Things stagnated. South African football in general has to find a way to move forward, and we have a duty to encourage development too.

“We’re lacking goals in this country. How do we address that? I’m happy to work on that generally, with all the other clubs.

“We have to find goals. Look at Gavin Hunt at Wits. He’s spoiled for choice up front but still doesn’t get them. How do we get players to score goals?

Hot shot: Ayanda Dlamini

“I need strikers who can score more than five goals a season. I have to get goals from other positions too if we’re not going to get 15 or 20 goals out of a striker. We need wide men to can put the ball in the right place.

“Apart from Bongani Ndulula, our predominant target man is Ayanda Dlamini, he took a while to get on centre stage, he’s 28 now. But he’s getting the goals that get us out of trouble. He’s a fantastic finisher.

“You have to work with the strikers, get them to hit the target, hit the target. Because often that’s not done at the development stage you know.

“The fact of the matter is we’ve still got to work on these lads, get them to develop their skills while they’re playing at the top level of football in South Africa.”

With a near-fullhouse at the Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban on Saturday to witness Platinum Stars’ surprise penalty shoot-out MTN8 final win over Orlando Pirates, Rosslee believes a successful AmaZulu can awake the dormant fans in the port city.

He insists: “I would love to see the stadium full for games against all sides in the PSL. I believe if we play the right brand of football we can do that. That needs to be reflected across the country. Play attacking football and the fans will come.”

BOLLOCKZ! my show on www.ballz.co.za, airs every Thursday from 10am-noon. See the Ballz channel on Youtube for our growing collection of interviews like the one above.

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.

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

EXCLUSIVE: Siyanda Xulu "disappointed" at being over-looked for Bafana's defeat against Nigeria - in his home town

On top of his game: Siyanda Xulu is on
on top of the world with Rostov in Russia

Gallo Images

SIYANDA XULU has expressed disappointment and frustration after being over-looked for South Africa’s disappointing 2-0 defeat against Nigeria in his hometown on Wednesday.

Just a fortnight ago, former Mamelodi Sundowns defender Xulu marked the world’s best player, Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o, out of the game when his underdogs Rostov beat billionaire Suleyman Kerimov’s Anzhi  Makhachkala 1-0.

Even that wasn’t enough to earn a call from SAFA but the 21-year-old from KwaMashu insists: “I hope to be back in Gordon Igesund’s thinking for the final World Cup qualifier against Botswana on September 7 at the Moses Mabhida.”

Xulu, speaking on my football show BOLLOCKZ on www.ballz.co.za yesterday morning, told me: “Nobody from Bafana made any contact. I was very disappointed, we were top of the Russian League. I’m doing very well for my club, we are winning, I am playing. Of course I was disappointed.

“I’m a KwaMashu boy, I always miss home, you always do. I wanted to come home and play in this game in Durban.

“I didn’t get to see the Nigeria defeat because they didn’t show it in Russia but I got to hear from my parents and some friends. They told me. Bafana didn’t have much of a good game I hear, especially when we were the ones playing a home, near where I grew up. We always like to beat Nigeria.

“At Rostov were are on the same points as No1, we have played four, won three, drawn one. We have made a good start.

“The best was beating Anzhi Makhachkala, the richest club in Russia – they were the runners-up here in the league last season. We played very well, we didn’t concede a goal, we won 1-0. It was very hard. We managed!

“I marked Samuel Eto’o, the best-paid striker in the world. It was quite difficult! He was kept quiet (laughs), he tried, you could see in his face he was frustrated, he wanted a goal. But I was trying my best to keep him quiet.

“Playing at Rostov has taught me a lot. I have come here to achieve a lot. In South Africa we don’t have the concrete development structures they have in Russia. Obviously you have to work hard, we match them skill-wise but technically it’s much quicker than South African football.

“My team Rostov is doing very well, it means a lot Neal, as a player you always want to do well, financially and on the pitch.

“I think if you have a chance to play in Europe, your South African team should let you go. It’s good for our nation and it’s good for Bafana.

“It was very frustrating when I tried to leave. At first I went to Barcelona, I was going to go but the president left. They were impressed, Atletico Madrid then offered me a contract and Mamelodi Sundowns said it wasn’t good enough.

“When I had the opportunity to go to Russia, they did it again, but I got here in the end. I don't understand why South African clubs make it so difficut.

“I think any young South Africa with a chance to go overseas should take it. It’s hard, you miss home, but it’s worth it. You become a better player.

“I hope I get to prove that against Botswana next month.”

BOLLOCKZ! my show on www.ballz.co.za, airs every Thursday from 10am-noon. See my Siyanda Xulu interview below - and further videos on the Ballz site, where I talk to Shakes Khunwane, THE MOLE and Oluwashina Okeleji of the BBC World Service about Bafana's abject defeat against Nigeria.

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.

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

In Gordon We Trust: two great levellers and a place in the quarter-finals. Hallelujah!

Good Gord: Igesund celebrates a place in the quarter-finals

FOUR months ago, when Gordon Igesund was talking at The New Age Business Breakfast at the Sandton Convention Centre, the conversation started.

On Sunday night, it hit some kind of peak as Bafana Bafana came from behind TWICE to get the point they needed to top Group A and qualify for the quarter-finals against Mali on Saturday night at 8.30pm. After twittering #ingordonwetrust for weeks on end in the face of the army of Bafana Bafana cynics, it finally started to trend.

And last night, as he found a quiet corner at the  Moses Mabhida Stadium during the Mali v DR Congo draw, he told Udo Carelse and I on www.702.co.za SPORTSTALK: "That scene at the end there? When we were all gathered in a circle? That was a prayer. We have some good Christian boys in this squad.

"You know me, I've always been positive. And I'm hoping it's rubbing off on the team. I believe we can go a long way in this tournament. There have been a lot of negative comments, but we are positive."

Right from the start, the odds were stacked against the no-nonsense coach from Durban. An opening “friendly” against Brazil, a trip to face Poland just before the European Championship on home soil, the retirement of Steven Pienaar, the tragic death of his assistant Thomas Madigage.

But Igesund battled on. He tried players like Riccardo Nunes, who took all his dead-balls before the Portuguese-South African-Slovenian was bombed out. Like Dino Ndlovu. And whatever happened to the PSL legends Andile Jali and Teko Modise?

Come Saturday night it was all to play for. The final game of AFCON’s Group A, South Africa needing a draw against Morocco. All those weeks of hope and desperation bubbling on the social networks with the media hacks hacking away.

And who could blame them? The pre-tournament friendlies against Norway and Algeria were hardly impressive. The opening clash with Cape Verde saw a third successive game without a goal.

Then the two-goal extravaganza at the Moses Mabhida Stadium gave renewed hope, gave us optimists a glimmer of light.

But when Morocco dominated and scored in the first ten minutes on Sunday night, the lights were going out all over South Africa. We prepared, stoically, for another elimination by the narrowest of margins of home soil, just like the World Cup in 2010.

Our only hope was that little Cape Verde would NOT beat their Portuguese pals in Angola. 

Then, suddenly, at around the 71^st minute in both Durban and Port Elizabeth, the world went mad.

I was in the TalkRadio 702 studio with Udo Carelse. Chaos. Our controller Owen Matjie let rip with a few roars right in the middle of a dramatic interview with EP Kings rugby icon Luke Watson. Papers flying, microphones shoved in faces. Were we in? Were we out?

Let me quote the BBC at this point. They describe it as “a night of unrelenting drama” as first May Mahlangu and then the tournament top-scorer Siya Sangweni – a centre-back - equalised for South Africa while the verdant Verdians produced two late goals to win 2-1 against Angola and send Morocco home with three points - and nothing to show for an unbeaten campaign.

In those last twenty minutes, any of the four sides might have gone through – at one point it looked like Morocco would go out on the fact they’d suffered more BOOKINGS than the tiny Cape Verde Islands.

Ultimately, through the tumult, South Africa emerged as Group A winners and they head to their quarter-final at the Moses Mabhida on Saturday with every chance of achieving Igesund’s initial target: a place in the last four of AFCON. Even if they don’t make it, they’ve given a sceptical nation a lift.

As things stand, the path to a repeat of 1996 sees Mali on Saturday, Ivory Coast in the semi-final - also in Durban - on February 6 before a possible final against Ghana on February 10.

Igesund remains apparently unfazed by the huge reaction to his side's unexpected qualification as group leaders. He said: "We had to dig really deep, the lads fought really hard today.

“Itumeleng Khune? Fantastic job, but the whole team did well. It’s a great occasion for the home team and I think we made the country proud."

“We still got work to do, but we’re in the quarter finals now, just two games to go until the final. At the end of the day, I’m proud of my players.”

The final word goes to Gordon. Asked by a journalist: “Do you believe anything is possible?” Igesund responded: “The question is, do you believe?” In Gord we Trust.