A fond farewell to AmaZulu... or can Steve Barker's jolly green giants produce a miracle?

Living on the edge: Mabulelo "OJ" Mabizela

WHILE the PSL seems intent on promoting the Carling Black Label gimmick cup which takes place before NEXT SEASON, some of us are still concerned about THIS SEASON.

As our domestic league hits the final two rounds, the battle for second place is absorbing enough but we have to ask “What happened to AmaZulu’s Great Escape?” at the foot of the league?

The mid-season break saw our historic men in green firmly rooted to the trap-door with just one win when Stevie Barker left AmaTuks for Amazulu. Most of us felt he was jumping out of the frying pan in to the fire.

But the 5-2 win over SuperSport United appeared to signal a major revival and until the narrow – but aimless – 1-0 defeat against champions Kaizer Chiefs there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Needing another win against Gordon Igesund’s men on Saturday – with fellow relegation candidates Free States Stars and Moroka Swallows picking up huge three pointers – Barker’s men simply let all the hope slip away in a 3-1 defeat which revealed the fatal flaws lurking in the Usuthu dressing room.

A quick glance at the Q4 table shows just how well the relegation fighters - particularly Free State Stars - have done, but for AmaZulu, it looks like it won't be enough.

How they stand: the Q4 tabl

Having already got rid of one club captain, ­Carlington Nyadombo, amid allegations of bad muti and poor time-keeping, the new skipper Robyn Johannes found himself confronted by the controversial Mabulelo Mabizela in the tunnel after the match.

OJ, the man who once made waves at Tottenham Hotspur before “home sickness” lured him back, has all the talent in the world. But he’d just picked up his fourth yellow card of the season – he’ll be banned for the vital clash against AmaTuks tomorrow night (Wednesday the 6^th) - and been fingered for Jeremy Brockie’s vital second goal.

The feeling was OJ, the 34-year-old who has scored four vital goals in 12 games so far in green,  should have cleared before the Kiwi netted to make it 2-1. But whether that was the cause of the altercation remains unclear. All we know is captain Johannes threw a water bottle at Mabizela, and nearly hit Asive Langwe, perhaps indicative of AmaZulu's accuracy this season.

A fight broke out in the tunnel, and Sedat Ouro-Akoriko, scorer of AmaZulu’s only goal on the night, had to separate the pair before Barker and marketing manager Lunga Sokhela locked the entire squad in the dressing room for an hour.

Steve Barker, whose uncle Clive had a bit of a roller-coaster with OJ at Mpumalanga Black Aces, was quoted in March saying: “Sometimes he gets too involved in the game and also too emotional. We can't be over-robust and over-emotional in games that will, at the end of the day, cost us. We need to be to calm and we cannot lose focus now.”



Today, Barker justified the bust-up. He said: "Emotions are running high here, and we are fighting for our lives. Everybody wanted to win against SuperSport. I would be upset if players weren't emotionally engaged: if they just went to the change room and sat down and accepted the defeat, I would be more worried.

"This incident shows passion, it's good sign. At least players are showing that they were gutted by the defeat, but we need to stand up and be strong against AmaTuks."

Sadly that has come to pass. With just two games left for the clubs battling relegation, Amazulu now need to beat AmaTuks and Maritzburg United on Saturday while hoping Moroka Swallows slip up at Nedbank Cup finalists Ajax Cape Town tomorrow and Bloemfontein Celtic on the final day.

With former AmaZulu boss Craig Rosslee now at Dobsonville and picking up points, it’s a forlorn hope for a club formed way back in 1932.

Those with an acute sense of South African football history will hope troublesome toddler Chippa United (29 points, 14 coaches following the departure of caretaker Mich D'Avray over the weekend) are dragged in to the battle – they’ve got Aces and Chiefs to finish – but the truth is AmaZulu (24 points) are favourites for the drop with Swallows (27 points) competing in the play-offs.

For a club with such a history, for a club once so prominent – I remember those days in the early 1980s when KwaMashu and uMlazi turned up in numbers to worship the likes of Joel Faya and Henry Cele - that’s a desperately gloomy prospect.


Some may take solace from Lamontville Golden Arrows - led by former Charlton Athletic and Bafana striker Shaun Bartlett - clinching the automatic promotion spot in the NFD on Sunday. But given Arrows link to certain PSL officials, that's hardly a consolation for real football fans in KwaZulu Natal in my book.

With Orlando Pirates still involved in the CAF Confederation Cup, Mamelodi Sundowns look set to claim second position - though Pirates won't mind too much if they get past Guinea champions AS Kaloum and in to the group stages.

But perhaps the most bizarre problem we ALL face is this: why did the PSL spend Monday launching the distinctly dodgy Carling Black Label Cup between Pirates and champions Kaizer Chiefs with the PSL headed for the final showdowns and the Nedbank Cup final - which desperately needs a push - still to come?

Answers on a postcard please. The PSL, who seem to care as much about their sponsors as they do about the dwindling number of fans, seem to have no explanation at all.

Does this video spell the end of the vuvuzela? When referee Mfiki found himself on the wrong end of a plastic trumpet.

THIS is the moment that could spell the end for South Africa's controversial vuvuzela.

At the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday, the fan in the video - in Golden Arrows green with a green vuvuzela but carrying a Kaizer Chiefs flag - attacked referee Lwandile Mfiki.

A second apparent AmaKhosi fan also tried to leap the fence. Trouble broke out after Mfiki, who also disallowed a Chiefs goal for a spurious off-side, sent off Chiefs midfielder Reneilwe Letsholonyane for a dangerous tackle. Most analysts felt it was a harsh punishment for the popular Bafana Bafana midfielder, best known as YeYe.

The match ended 0-0, enabling PSL leaders Chiefs to move eight points ahead of arch-rivals Orlando Pirates - but the Buccaneers have two games in hand.

Latest Q2 standings after today's Soweto Derby and Platinum Stars tennis match

Take that: Collins Mbesuma scored the opening goal  at Soccer City yesterday

This is how the PSL Q2 table contenders look SIX games in, two to go for the second R2.5m bonus of the season.

Platinum Stars came back from 4-2 down to beat struggling Golden Arrows - under new management with Manqoba Mngqithi - 6-4.

Dikwena are now within three points of PSL Leaders Kaizer Chiefs and level on points with second-placed Orlando Pirates. It was their eighth win in nine games.

Norman Smith, Musa Bilankulu (brace) and Bhekisizwe Nkosi were all on the scoresheet for Arrows, while the home side netted through Henrico Botes (two), Mogakolodi Ngele (two). With time up, the sides were locked at 4-4 before late goals from Siphelele Mthembu and Thuso Phala.

Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates shared the points at Soccer City with Collins Mbesuma - as he did for Zambia at the same venue - putting the first goal past Itumeleng Khune.

Mbesuma had a second goal wrongly ruled out for offside before Stuart Baxter's table-toppers produced a neat equaliser from Lehlohonolo Majoro.

A spectacular volley from sub Benni McCarthy narrowly failed to break the deadlock with both Baxter and Pirates boss Roger de Sa complaining about referee Robert Smith's officiating after the final whistle.

Baxter said: “I don’t know about everybody else, but I just would have liked to see stronger officiating because that gives us a better game of football. I was upset, Roger was upset, even the referee seemed upset, but I would have liked stronger officiating."

De Sa said: “I saw their number 31 [Willard Katsande] make five horrendous tackles and not get booked; our first tackle got a booking. I also saw a pass back for the disallowed goal. I know Stuart asked for a firm referee but, well… I’m not a referee.”

Tower Mathoho was named man of the match for another stirring performance at the heart of the AmaKhosi defence - and a powerful long-distance strike on goal.

Pirates remain unbeaten in the second quarter but their midweek 0-0 draw with Chippa United means they are toppled in the Q2 race by Platinum Stars, who have won FIVE out of six and are now third in the PSL table. 

In Tshwane, AmaTuks produced a last-gasp 1-0 win over struggling Chippa United thanks to a James Okwuosa own goal.

1 Platinum Stars        6..5..0..1..13..7..15
2 Orlando Pirates      6..4..2..0..11..2..14
3 Kaizer Chiefs          6..4..1..1..12..6..13
2 Mburg United         6..3..1..2..6..4..10  

The final countdown: Pirates and Swallows battle it out LIVE on SABC

Pirates booty: will it be V for Victory for Augusto Palacios?

WE can ask only one thing of the Golden Arrows in Durban this Saturday. That they give as much as Queen Park Rangers did in Manchester last Sunday.

The build-up to the final weekend of South African Premier League fixtures holds just as much excitement as it’s English counterpart – enhanced by last night’s announcement from SABC Acting COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng that the two big games will be screen simultaneously on Saturday at 3pm - SABC 1 will show the Golden Arrows vs Orlando Pirates while SABC 2 will televise the Maritzburg United vs Moroka Swallows.

It’s not as if there hasn’t been enough excitement already this week. Roy Hodgson and Pitso Mosimane announced their international squads – how Woy could pick John Terry and not Rio Ferdinand is beyond me – and I was scrambling to get to eNews last night when Kenny Dalglish finally parted company with Liverpool shortly before Jomo Cosmos were officially relegated from the PSL after a 2-2 draw with Black Leopards.

This morning, it’s eTV Sunrise, where I will be refereeing a meeting of PROs – Moroka Swallows and Orlando Pirates will be represented and my old friend Neo Monyetsane wants me to keep the peace before we all get together on Saturday to watch the final showdown in South Africa followed by the monumental match up in Munich: Bayern v Chelsea for the Champions League.

And all this on top of the closes ever finish in the English Premier. History records that drama thus: QPR needed a point to ensure survival in the Premier League. Manchester City came to London needing a win to guarantee their first title since 1968. QPR went behind, then levelled - then they had Joey Barton sent off for elbowing Carlos Tevez.

Even as Barton's ugly departure - featuring further assaults on Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany - was dying down, QPR went 2-1 ahead, leaving City needing two goals to win it.

That Edin Dzeko and the same Aguero produced those two injury-time goals - the clincher came exactly 14 seconds after United thought they had won the title when the final whistle went in Sunderland - will go down as one of the greatest finishes ever recorded to an English season.

And South Africa can look forward to something similar on Saturday as the much-maligned Absa Premiership goes down to the wire in much the same way.

For the Etihad Stadium, read Moses Madhiba. For City read Orlando Pirates. For United at Sunderland, try Moroka Swallows at Maritzburg United. The Buccaneers need a win to confirm a record second successive treble. A draw or a defeat against the Arrows coupled with a Swallows win would take the title to Dube for the first time since the 1960s - a championship drought familiar to those other noisy neighbours, City.

And just as England's Premier was decided for the first time on Sunday by goal difference, a similar prospect looms in KZN on Saturday if Pirates draw and Swallows win. But can the Arrows really threaten to do a QPR and leave the nation on the edge of their seats?

Like the London Hoops, Durban's Arrows are hardly razor-sharp. Founded on the the streets of Lamontville in 1943, they first popped up in the old National Professional Soccer League thirty years later, before relegation in 1976.

The Arrows went back in the quiver after that, reappearing in 1996, when the Madlala family - today the club is run by Mato, the nation's only footballing chairwoman - bought a Second Division franchise called Notokozo FC and named themselves after the old Arrows.

Over the years, Ernst Middendorp, Zoran Filipović , Manqoba Mngqithi, Khabo Zondo and now  Muhsin Ertugral have tried to sharpen things up, but - despite finishing 5th in 2009 - on Saturday they play mostly for pride, standing safely in 12th position on the table.

Ironically, they come up against their own most experienced player ­- Siyabonga Sangweni  played a record 173 games for them as a youngster - when the desperate Sea Robbers come to town on Saturday on the final day of the 2012 season.

It was Sangweni who scored the winner against Bloemfontein Celtic last Saturday as the Pirates produced yet another veteran-inspired come-from-behind 2-1 win. It left the increasingly popular caretaker coach Augusto Palacios cooing: "We still have to win that last game in Durban. Not any other results we will accept. If we draw we are out, it is clear we need to win that game.

"Until we do that, then we can say we are champions, I can't say anything until we play that game against Arrows, which is a difficult game."

Swallows boss Gordon Igesund, threatening to win the title with a record FIFTH club, said at this week’s PSL press conference after his side's 2-1 win over Platinum Stars: "The pressure is all on Pirates going in to Saturday. Nobody expected Swallows to be here. Even if we don’t make it, will have achieved more than anybody expected."

Nobody doubts the Pirates SHOULD win retain their title. I believe they will, despite being the first sports journalist in South Africa to tip Swallows to emerge as shock contenders months ago. Palacios has shown surprising tactical nous and predictable Peruvian passion and deserves to have his caretaker contract extended.

Benni McCarthy and Tokelo Rantie are overdue a goal but the  still troublesome trio of Lucky Lekgwathi, Oupa Manyise and Sangweni have also shown an ability to score when the going gets tough.

But on behalf of all the neutrals - as well as Birds and Baxter-fearing Amakhosi fans - let's  Siyabonga Novethe adds to his magnificent 20 goals for the Birds at Maritzburg. And please Arrows, score first on Saturday. The football-speaking nation deserves a fitting finale.

Some of this article appeared as my Neal and Pray column in www.thenewage.co.za. You can catch me on Monday morning on eNews and eTV Sunrise, or follow me on twitter @nealcol.