NOT BAD KHAMA! Billiat shines at AFCON and surely Europe must be next

TIME TO LEAVE THE COMFORT ZONE: Khama Billiat

SUNDAY afternoon in Gabon was not just about Zimbabwe holding highly-rated Algeria to a pulsating 2-2 draw, it was also about Khama Billiat finally getting the recognition he deserves.

The 26-year-old from Harare stands just 1.7m tall, at 5ft 7in, barely two inches taller than Lionel Messi, who needed growth hormone therapy. But Billiat has long been a talent as impressive in Southern Africa as Leo was in Argentina at half his age.

A product of the local Aces Academy in Harare, Billiat left CAPS United before he even played a professional game, spotted by the Ajax scouting network in Cape Town. He played 83 games for the club, scoring 21 goals alongside another huge talent, Thulani Serero.

But while Serero went off to Amsterdam, Billiat tried out with Lokomotiv in Moscow before accepting a new post closer to home: he went to Mamelodi Sundowns in 2013 for a reported fee of R10m, still a PSL record.

And when Pitso Mosimane arrived to steady the Masandawana ship, Billiat began to thrive. He scored 8 goals in 2014-15 and 12 last season as Sundowns broke the Stuart Baxter/Kaizer Chiefs stranglehold on the championship twice in the last three seasons.

While a huge fuss is being made of team-mate Keagan Dolly - Sundowns were allowed to push his contracted buy-out from around R10m to over R20m by the PSL’s Dispute Resolution Chamber - there can be little question Billiat is the bigger deal.

After a fantastic start to AFCON 2017 against Algeria - he ran out of steam a little in the second half in Franceville - Billiat was the talk of the tournament.

Two fantastic runs saw him denied only by the goalkeeper, but it was a peach of a volley midway through the first half - which damn nearly broke the crossbar - that provided the perfect Billiat moment.

Sammy Kuffour, the sometimes comic SuperSport analyst, was shaken in to coherence. He said: “Billiat is the complete player. He has pace. He is small so you don’t know what to do with him. He should be in Europe already. I’d love to see him at a big club. He is a great African talent.”

Of course, Sundowns could probably get the DRC to block any potential admirers as the European clubs queue up after AFCON, where the scouts flock like flies.

But in truth, like Dolly, Billiat should have been gone ages ago. There is talk of disciplinary problems - he was late to arrive at the Zimbabwe pre-Afcon camp - and he certainly has a comfortable life in Tshwane.

But after winning the PSL twice and the African Champions League this season, any further dalliance would be pointless.

Sundowns did all they could do delay Bongani Zungu’s move to Portugal. They’re doing the same to Dolly. Compatriot Knowledge Musona has already advised Billiat to escape his Gauging comfort zone.

The player himself says: "I would love to go and play in Europe but I will see. If I don't go to Europe I am still happy at Sundowns.”

That’s not enough. Football is a short career. Sundowns fans won’t like it, but Khama, it’s time to make the leap of faith. Faith in your own ability.

PITSO FOR PRESIDENT! Mamelodi Sundowns do the nation proud in Egypt

PROVING A POINT: Tiyani Mabunda got the opener

PITSO FOR PRESIDENT! Can there be any other response to Mamelodi Sundowns superb win in Cairo on Sunday night?

There was a time when beating Al Ahly or Zamalek in Egypt was unthinkable. Orlando Pirates went some way to disproving that theory in 2013, but Masandawana finally destroyed the myth with a 2-1 win at the PetroSport Stadium.

Tiyani Mabunda, the man who had his superb debut goal taken away when Algeria’s ES Setif were disqualified after crowd trouble in the opening game, got Sundowns underway with a cool follow-up after Khama Billiat hit the post in the first half.

A rusty Dennis Onyango, Uganda’s Player of the Year and the PSL’s Goalkeeper of the Season, then got tangled up with centre-back Thabo Nthethe, the PSL Defender of the year, allowing Mo Ibrahim a fortunate equaliser.

But in the second half, after Leonardo Castro hit the bar, Keagan Dolly produced the assist for PSL Player of the Season Billiat to thread home the winner.

OUCH: scorer Mo Ibrahim's broken ankle

The highly-rated Egyptians, unable to fill their stadium due to crowd restrictions, sang themselves to a stand-still… but the players failed to respond. Their nose for goal was about as effective as the crumbled feature on the front of their historic Sphinx after Ibrahim went off with what look like a badly broken ankle.

Ultimately, this win - following on from the home victory over Nigeria’s Enyimba - should see Pitso Mosimane’s record-breaking PSL champions through to the semi-finals of the African Champions League with two to play.

With Setif thrown out, two from three qualify - and Sundowns are simply too well equipped to fail from here.

What was it Pitso said? "I always tell the boys, as long as it’s 11 against 11 on the pitch and the referee is doing his job well, then we should be able to play our normal game. What’s good is that no one is afraid of teams like Zamalek any more."

Yup, the same coach who described football in Africa as "a jungle" after the defeat against Medeama!

The prospect of a continental triumph for the first time since Orlando Pirates in 1995 is starting to dawn. Not bad for a side knocked out of the competition by AS Vita and then dumped from the secondary CAF Confederations Cup by Medeama earlier in the season.

Yes, Sundowns slipped in through the back door when Vita were found guilty of fielding an ineligible player. But to have their opening win in Algeria torn away from them by CAF makes up for that giant slice of fortune.

With Mosimane forced to bring people back from holiday - some without contracts - when the news of their reprieve broke, Sundowns have been little short of miraculous during the South African off-season.

With Enyimba to play in Nigeria and Zamalek in Tshwane, Pitso and his CBD stand on the verge of the semi-finals with Castro classy, Billiat brilliant and Dolly dominant.

15 years after their one and only appearance in the final in 2001, few would bet against them going all the way again. Pitso, who described Africa as “a jungle” and complained about the refereeing following the double failure earlier in the season, will have a very broad smile this morning.

And a final thought I've just put on twitter: Sitting here thinking DOLLY should have 20 @BafanaBafana caps, PITSO should replace #shaky and @IamKhamaBilliat should be in the Premier League.

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER: how Pitso's Mamelodi Sundowns confounded the continent

MIRACLE IN ALGERIA: Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane

Today I come to praise Pitso Mosimane. As one of those football addicts who stayed up way beyond midnight last Saturday night, it was a memorable 90 minutes on the Mamelodi Sundowns roller-coaster. Did I say memorable? Make that  bloody miraculous!

After a long day which featured come-from-behind wins for Bafana Bafana (on penalties over Lesotho in the COSAFA quarter-finals), a missed penalty for Cristiano Ronaldo (in another fascinating failure for Portugal) and a first win for Allister Coetzee’s Springboks, it was entirely unexpected.

We burned the midnight oil expecting to see another brave failure in Africa from our PSL champions. When they got to 20 minutes at 0-0, I tweeted that the match situation was already better than expected.

Truth is, our KaboYellow title winners went to Algeria with little to hope against their 2015 champions ES Setif. To list the problems for South Africa’s leading club in full would require several pages, but let’s just say their preparations weren’t ideal, they didn't expect to be in Africa, contracts need settling, new blood has yet to arrive.

In goal, Wayne Sandilands found himself thrust in front of a packed May 18th 1945 Stadium (read more about that name at the foot of this story) as a late stand-in for PSL goalkeeper of the year Dennis Onyango of Uganda and Kennedy Mweene of Zambia.

In midfield, with Bongani Zungu off to Portugal, Tiyani Mabunda need a last-minute visa application to get him out of the country for his continental debut. A word too for Leonardo Castro, who opted to return from Colombia to help out despite the imminent end of his one-year deal in Tshwane.

Whispers told us central defender Ramahlwe Mphahlele was left at home chewing over a move to Kaizer Chiefs, striker Anthony Laffour had “disciplinary problems” and it felt like Pitso Mosimane's usually impeccable preparation was in disarray.

With Ramadan to consider, the game didn’t start until after 11pm, no South African club has ever kicked off so late. And of course, no club has EVER played in the African Champions League group phase after being knocked out of both continental tournaments - only the disqualification of AS Vita Club had landed them back in Africa’s most important cup competition.

And Sundowns previous trips to North Africa hardly instilled confidence. Remember 0-4 against Tunisia’s CF Faxien, 0-3 against Egypt’s Al Ahli, 2-4 to Sudan’s Al Hilal?

They trotted out in Setif, memorable only for football and a massacre (105 were shot dead by French police on May 8, 1945) with a record of six defeats and two draws in their previous eight games north of the equator.

What was it Pitso said a few weeks ago about travelling north? "You see how it is. It's a jungle."

Under pressure from the first whistle to the last, we witnessed a 90 minute miracle. An away win to start a qualifying process Sundowns should never have been involved in.

First the long-suffering Mabunda silenced the rowdy crowd with a stunning first half goal against the run of play. Then, playing on the transition, the tireless Keagan Dolly - hero of Bafana’s only AFCON 2017 win against Gambia - finally threaded a ball through to PSL player of the season Khama Billiat.

The priceless Zimbabwean wove his magical thread through the Algerian defence and stuck it away. At 2-0, an unthinkable victory was confirmed. Setif had barely forced a save out of the impeccable Sandilands.

And then, in injury-time, a roar from the outraged fans, loud bangs from thrown fireworks and a full-scale pitch invasion. Chaos as Sundowns sought shelter by the bench. Fearful Setif players stayed on the pitch, looking on with some trepidation but trying to re-assure the opposition of safe passage from the stadium.


Footage of the trouble HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX4EPod8avQ




Though our SuperSport and SABC commentators were doing their best from studios in Johannesburg, we were not granted visuals of the missiles thrown, the security guards trying to keep control.

Referee Mahamadou Keita from Mali, who did Sundowns few favours on an historic night, tried to get the match restarted but in the end, the final whistle went amid the chaos.

Much will be said, hopefully by SAFA to CAF, about a night of high drama and crowd chaos which, like the trouble at Euro2016, must be punished.

But this week, let’s just bask in the glory of South Africa’s finest Champions League performance in years. With Nigerians Enyimba at home on June 29. Pitso and Sundowns can finally give the nation something to shout about.

To read about the horrific events of May 8, 1945 in Setif: http://5pillarsuk.com/2015/05/08/8th-may-1945-remembering-algerias-setif-massacre/