No Tower. No Major. Let's hope Gordon Igesund hasn't made his first mistake as Bafana coach

Major mistake: Lehlohonolo Major is in fine form

WHEN Bafana Bafana entertain the reigning African champions Zambia on Wednesday night in honour of Nelson Mandela at Soccer City, two of the nation’s form players will be watching the game on the television.

Despite Gordon Igesund’s insistence that he would be “picking players who are doing well for their clubs” the two men who have kept Kaizer Chiefs at the top of the Professional Soccer League table do NOT feature in his squad for the Nelson Mandela Challenge this week.

Mulomowandau Mathoho and Lehlohonolo Majoro – perhaps better known as the Tower and the Major – have been the driving force behind the AmaKhosi’s hugely popular ascent to the top of the local tree. While Igesund spent last week visiting Everton’s Steven Pienaar and Norwich City’s Andrew Surman, Mathoho was a Tower of strength in Chiefs’ wins over Golden Arrows and SuperSport United.

Lest we forget, Bernard Parker scored all the Chiefs goals early on – including a remarkable four against AmaZulu – to force his way in to Gordon’s squad. But with Kingston Nkatha also weighing in up front, Majoro - despite his new, boring hairstyle - is currently the nation’s form goal-getter with five goals in four games. He now trails Parker by one, with six PSL strikes.

And at the back, it is Mathoho – along with Igesund’s favourite goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune – who has ensured the AmaKhosi have conceded a league-leading five goals in 11 games.

Chiefs boss Stuart Baxter, looking more comfortable by the week, said after Majoro had scored both goals in the 2-1 win over previously unbeaten SuperSport United, said: “Major dares me to leave him out of the starting line-up. He trains well and he looks so threatening. I have to pick him.”

And Mathoho, man of the match in the midweek 3-0 win over Golden Arrows, was overlooked yesterday when Igesund decided to call up team-mate Siboniso Gaxa to replace the injured Siya Sangweni in central defence.

Gaxa, like fellow squad members Anele Ngcongca (Racing Club Genk, Belgium), Ricardo Nunes (MSK Zilina), Punch Masenamela (Mamelodi Sundowns) and Thabo Nthethe (Bloemfontein Celtic) is more of a full-back than a central defender. Which leaves us with SuperSport United's Bevan Fransman to fill the a hole and stifle Zambia's big Pirate, Collins Mbesuma.

Thus far, Igesund has used Orlando Pirate Sangweni at centre-back next to captain Bongani Khumalo, currently strutting his stuff for PAOK in Greece. Given Sangweni’s knee injury, the failure to call up Tower is probably even more startling than the decision to overlook Majoro for his team-mate Parker, Tokelo Rantie, Katlego Mashego and Kermit Erasmus up front.

After his strirring efforts last week, Tower grinned: “Credit should go to each and every one in the team. I do not do it alone; we win as a team.

“We need to make sure that we follow our game plan. Winning can be a habit.”

It’s a habit Gordon MUST have by the time AFCON 2013 kicks off at the same Soccer City venue on January 19 against Cape Verde Islands. Still, Igesund does have another form player to turn to. Sifiso Myeni continues to impress in Orlando, scoring the only goal against Steve Komphela’s men on Saturday to put the Pirates second in the PSL.

Coach Roger de Sa, another boss who appears to be enjoying himself lately, said of the youngster he first groomed at Wits: “Sifiso? I’m delighted. With his form and his goal-scoring ability. I know him pretty well and he is playing with a lot of confidence.

“At the moment he is carrying us.”

Hopefully he will carry Gordon’s Bafana on Wednesday night too. But you can’t help thinking the Tower and the Major would have made his task that much easier. 

Gordon spent today's press conferences and media chats outlining his successes and failures on the whistle-stop tour of the UK last week.

He told us he talked to Norwich City's South African-born Andrew Surman and explained: "He didn't seem interested, so I left it at that."

And Igesund went to great lengths to insist he "only went for a cup of coffee" with Steven Pienaar, who announced his international retirement last month. Gordon repeatedly stressed: "The subject of Bafana didn't come up. I wasn't there to beg him to change his mind. He's a man. It was a tough decision. We have to respect that.

"I spoke to Steve about his family - there was some good news about his wife - and I discussed football with him and his coach, David Moyes. Stevie said how much he was enjoying his football. But he says because of the condition of his groin, he can only train twice a week and needs a day to recover afterwards.

Steven Pienaar has been a great ambassador for this country for ten years. He deserves recognition for that. That's why I saw him. Not to make him change his mind. We just had a cup of coffee, that's all. He talked about the differences between Spurs and Everton, stuff like that.

"Is the door closed for Pienaar? Will he ever play for South Africa again? Look, I will never close the door on any South African who wants to play for his country. That's how it is."

The good news came in the shape of Kagiso Dikgacoi at Crystal Palace and Dean Furman, the Oldham Athletic captain. Igesund explained: "I visited both of them. I met KD's new coach at Palace, Ian (Holloway) and he was full of praise for KD. He's made a place for himself there in a very competitive league. I watched him played in a defensive role against Ipswich.

"And I phoned Ian after Palace won over the weekend and KD scored. They are top of that league, he is doing well. Ian said he can playing attacking or defensive. They love him there.

"And with both Oldham and Palace, I got what I wanted. I asked them to release KD and Furman a week early. FIFA stipulates they only have to be released two weeks before the tournament. But I've got their clubs to agree to let me have them on January 1.

"That was why I made the trip. To get to know these managers. To build a relationship. Some games, against local sides, I won't call their players. It's give and take.

"Now I have to build that relationship, with the managers in Begium, Holland and Greece too. That is my job.

"I also spoke to David Somma at Leeds. He's been out of football for a long time with a knee ligament problem but he's played two games for the reserves and he's nearly there.

"It's the same for Thulani Serero at Ajax Amsterdam. He is training again too. But for all these players, Morgan Gould, Killer Mphela and Benni McCarthy, they are back in training but they have to play for their club teams before I can seriously consider them.

"It isn't too late for any of them. But it's getting late. We kick off AFCON on January 19. Time is limited."

A shortened version of this story will appear as my Neal and Pray column in tomorrow's The New Age. See www.thenewage.co.za.

Sout Appeal: how YOU feel about the South Africans who opt for England

SPORTS fans on the social networking sites responded with some gusto when asked how they felt about the migration to England of a galaxy of South African sports stars.

The story was sparked by a simple twitter from a sportsmad follower called Ben Wessels on Twitter.

He lamented the selection of Brad Barritt for England this week. Durban-born centre Brad captained Kearsney College’s first XV in 2004 and played for the Sharks before joining Saracens and getting called-up by England’s new coach Stuart Lancaster for next month’s Six Nations championship.

In an article for Sunday’s Scoop!, South Africa’s new Sunday newspaper, I asked:

Do you have strong feelings about the number of South African stars stolen by England? Brad Barritt the latest rugby player, six in England cricket squad, even Andrew Surman of Norwich... is it fair?

We focused on the decision of ten South African-born stars to play for England, including “Saffacens” trio Barritt, Mouritz Botha and Matt Stevens plus cricket captain Andrew Strauss (though he left aged six), Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott, Matt Prior, Craig Kieswetter and Jade Dernbach.

Norwich City midfielder Andrew Surman also opted to play for the England Under 21s last year after the Johannesburg-born midfielder’s pleas for a place in Bafana Bafana’s World Cup squad in 2010 were ignored.

 Here’s a selection of your responses which will be published in Scoop! (available at all respectable street corners in Gauteng and KZN) on Sunday along with a super graphic from our image specialist Johan Smith. Don’t miss it!

@Zaakirinho (Zaakir Hoosen): The problem is, many countries are unable to stop the leak. Who is the winner, Brit talent is overshadowed as well? I believe if a player represents his birth-country at a junior level he should then NOT be allowed to represent another country?

@daneherbst (Dane Herbst): To be honest I’m going to have to make sure I miss Barritt in Durban when I throw my oranges at the likes of Ashton, Haskell, Armitage and Tindall

@manqoba89 (Xolani Sibeko): The question should be, how are the English feeling about being represented by South Africans? Don’t they have talent there

@mashabanebasil (Basil Mashabane): I see it as just a career move, same with all ex-pats in the UK. They all remain South Africans  at heart. @kevinpp24 (Kevin Pietersen) is an example

@ben_wessels (Ben Wessels): Yes it pisses us off, well it does me at least. More than I like to admit actually. You can keep KP though!

@hamishfs (Hamish Scott): Wish Brad well but Boks are blessed with centres like JdV, Fourien de Jongh, Butch, Lambie and Frans. No way through.

@Sihleb6 (Sihle Blose): I will not blame England if the South African national coaches do not call up the players. What must they do if someone else is calling?

@daveycha (David Rees): It says more about South Africa than it does about England.

ON FACEBOOK:

Pal Mabelane: Don’t mind at all, it’s testimony in how competitive South African cricket is. I just hate losing against them!

Tebogo Mokoana: This is always a bit tricky, looking at Andrew Surman even though people were raving about him Pitso never paid attention. I mean that boy is playing in the biggest league and Pitso was asked first what he thinks of him! Davide Somma (Leeds) had to be trafted into the team because of the media pressure.

Tshilidzi Thame: Its not fair but good for the game, especially cricket. We have enough capacity and why not share…

Tera Twetwa: Its great to see the non-white players like Vernon Philander and Lonwabo Tsotsobe proving that they are selected on merit. It would be sad to lose quality players because of the quota-system like we did with Pietersen.

Andrew Moumakwe Jnr: Neal, South Africa’s selection system is really shocking at times. Especially soccer and cricket. No continuity. For me it’s a fair deal.

Sakhe Zamela: Are we losing Surman? This sucks big time sir

Dan Webb: You can have Jade Dernbach back!