THE LITTLE LION: Percy Tau heads to Japan on top of the world

CHAMPIONS OF AFRICA: Percy Tau (front right) can't quite believe it!

THE PERCY TAU PHENOMENON IS REAL. There was a time, not a year ago, when the only thing the little lion at Mamelodi Sundowns had in common with Lionel Messi was his diminutive stature.

But with Leonardo Castro suffering that long-term ankle injury, Tau returned to the regular starting line-up during Pitso Mosimane’s fabulous “back-door” African Champions League triumph and he has NEVER looked back.

He was the little lad sitting looking bemused during the celebrations in Egypt after KaboYellow were crowned continental kings. He no longer had to bring a cushion to matches for a long stint on the bench. He was a major part of a phenomenal success.

It was all too much for the 22-year-old who only got his matriculation certificate last year.

Vital goals in Africa have been followed by great goals in domestic competition. His second goal on Saturday against Free State Stars was a thing over wonder, nearly as spectacular as THAT last-gasp overhead equaliser from Baroka’s Oscarine Masuluke against Orlando Pirates.

Tau picked up the ball near the halfway line, cut a swathe through the falling Stars defence and put it through the legs of a defender and the goalkeeper to make it 4-1 to Sundowns on a day of serious confidence-building.

On Monday, Sundowns flew off to Japan for the FIFA Club World Cup with their heads held high. The shock defeat against Cape Town City on Wednesday was forgotten. Sundowns can go top of the PSL if they win all their games in hand.

Real Madrid and the rest of the world’s continental champions await them in Japan but Percy has an old head on those young shoulders. After yet another Man of the Match award, he said: “We did well, I just try to do what I know. The focus is on my football, nothing else.

”Yes, I do miss chances, but I’m happy to score two today.”

Coach Mosimane is nearly breathless in his praise: “Our boys, sometimes they can be naughty. We could have scored more. Percy at the moment is unbelievable. He’s scoring goals, and he’s growing, growing all the time.”

With Castro back in the starting eleven for the first time, Tau maintains his spot next to the CBD as the team heads for Japan. It gives Sundowns a lovely, free-running spirit to have Castro, Khama Billiat and Keagan Dolly up there with Tau.

Up to this point, general consensus indicated Tau, an academy product born in what was once known as Witbank, was way behind Dolly in the array of young South Africans who could break in to the top five leagues in Europe.

For years I questioned Dolly’s exclusion from the Bafana Bafana senior set-up. The same can be said for Tau, who never caught Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba’s agent-jaundiced eye with the national squad.

But with Dolly’s road to Olympiacos in Greece blocked by stubborn Sundowns officials insisting the R10m buy-out clause in his contract was “a mistake” it could be Tau, “lion” in English, will be the man to poach in Japan.

He has the talent. He has the personality. He has the touch. South Africa longs for a player other than Sunderland’s elderly Steve Pienaar playing in Europe’s “Big Five” leagues. For our young lion Percy Tau, as Sundowns fans say, the Sky is the Limit!

SIMPLY NDORABLE: How Tendai finally grabbed his chance with a Soweto Derby double

THE THREE-HOUR HAIRCUT: Tendai
Ndoro shows off the style... and the Man
of the match Nedbank Green Jacket

TENDAI NDORO. Talk of the town. Two goals to win Saturday's Soweto Derby. Did it come as a surprise? Hope not, I've been talking about him for months.

Right at the start of the season, when the 27-year-old Zimbabwean striker appeared in Orlando Pirates gear for the first time, you could see the exuberance in the man from Harare, his natural knack of challenging defenders, finding the target.

It wasn’t surprising. Ndoro scored seven for Mpumalanga’s Black Aces in his first six months in 2014, I remember one night wishing out loud on Twitter that he would somehow stumble across a South African passport and help solve the Bafana Bafana striker crisis.

When Mamelodi Sundowns and Pirates showed interest, Tendai - full name Takudzwa - might have been bewildered by his agent claiming English Premier League club Crystal Palace were interested. But he really did look that good.

A deal with Pirates finally emerged at the start of the season - Aces claimed he had another year to run on his contract but he found himself training with the Buccaneers by the time the season got underway.

Yet Ndoro found himself low down in the pecking order under Eric Tinkler. For months he watched as Kermit Erasmus, Thami Gabuza and Lehlohonolo Majoro took their places up front with varying levels of mediocrity.

At the time, with Pirates struggling in the lower half of the PSL, Ndoro said: “Talking about leaving Pirates in search of game time is something that is not in my vocabulary.” But you knew, in your heart, it wasn’t right.

I mentioned Ndoro’s life in limbo several times on Twitter. Nobody said much. But when Erasmus, claiming he was off to see the in-laws in Holland, signed for Rennes in France, Ndoro finally found himself taking a quick-step up the ladder.

Tinkler had little choice but to pick him as Gabuza self-destructed in front of goal and suddenly the cushion was discarded for the scoring boots. The games - and the goals - began to flow.

In the build-up to the Nedbank Cup Soweto Derby clash on Saturday, many were debating who should start up front. I said Ndoro was the obvious choice, though many felt Gabuza and Majoro were more likely.

Then God - the beardy guy who sometimes still brings out the old leather football boots - took a hand. Majoro did his hamstring in training and Ndoro secured his place.

He had a half-chance early on, then Kaizer Chiefs took over and hope began to fade. For 77 minutes, we suffered out way through the usual Soweto Derby boredom with an unusually sparse crowd.

Until the 77th minute. Mpho Makola put through a lovely ball which split the AmaKhosi’s makeshift defence. Good ball, but bouncing awkwardly. Ndoro brought it down in an instant, and to general hysteria, lashed the first goal past Reyaad Pieterse.

Five minutes later, he was at it again, banging in a laid-off free-kick low past Pieterse, bouncing in to the far corner. GAME OVER, though Ndoro produced a final curling shot just beyond the angle as he chased the fabled Soweto Derby hat-trick.

Afterwards, crowned Man of the Match with a hair-style he admits takes three hours to compose, Ndoro oozed: “That was my first Soweto Derby and I got two goals. That’s something you have to admire! I want to continue doing that, and not just in the derbies.

“Second half we wanted that one goal and we got it. That goal boosted us and helped us to get another one. I was pleased with it. Control, shoot, score.”

Tinkler explained Ndoro’s long-term exclusion by saying: “Tendai’s work-rate needed to increase. We’re a team in which everybody needs to work, and we can see he is doing that now.”

Then: “The way he expresses himself is important. We know Tendai has great ability in front of goal, when he gets the opportunity he must shoot because we know that nine out of 10 times he will hit the back of the net.”

Which rather begs the question: why didn’t we see more of him earlier in the season?

Orlando Pirate Tlou Segolela scored THIS wonder goal in 2011 (video) but he still can't go to the UK

TLOU "SOX" SEGOLELA is the man of the moment. The all-conquering two-goal Bafana hero against Lesotho on Sunday, despite the wind, the mountains and the plastic pitch. And then we have the "Maradona" goal from "South Africa's Usain Bolt" against Free State Stars in 2011 - plus a few othes featured in the videos I've posted above and below.

Used mostly as an "impact" substitute by Orlando Pirates coaches since his move to the Buccaneers in 2007 (he also went on loan to Bloemfontein Celtic in 2009) there was talk earlier this month of a move to Soweto rivals with some debate over the two-year contract he signed last year NOT being extended to the end of June 2014.

But with those two goals in Maseru on Sunday - the first a tap-in, the second a lovely turn-and-fire - the high-speed "Gautrain" has suddenly become a valuable property with those live images on SuperSport and the SABC making him the man of the moment.

But there is a limit to footballing hype. I don't deny Segolela certainly deserves a water-tight deal for next season, something technical director Screamer Tshabalala and holidaying coach Roger De Sa should chat to chairman Irvin Khoza about URGENTLY.

Failing that, a move to double-winning Chiefs would certainly bolster the 25-year-old Limpopan (?) in his bid for a regular PSL starting place after playing just 45 games for Pirates in five seasons.

But his agent Tim Sukuzi is aiming perhaps a little too high after the Bafana brace. Yesterday he was on Radio 2000 insisting he had "an invitation from a big Championship club in England" in front of him.

Sukuzi, not inexperienced in player management, said: "Yes, Tlou has got options but we are only talking to overseas clubs, and I can confirm that he has been invited for trials with a Championship club in England. I can’t tell you which one."

Sukazi went as far as to dismiss the mighty AmaKhosi, adding: “He is not joining Chiefs. As I said, we are not dealing with the local clubs. I know that a few PSL clubs are interested, but we are looking to get him overseas. That is the priority.”

Within minutes of his appearance on radio, my phone was ringing red hot. No, it wasn’t Barcelona and Bayern Munich on the line wanting a ticket to the “Gautrain”, this was the insistent ring of South Africa football experts asking: “Is he serious?”

And of course, Tim, you can’t be. In order to gain work permit in the United Kingdom, professional footballers have to play 75 percent of their nation’s FIFA qualifying games over the last two years. And that team has to be in FIFA's top 70 (on average) throughout that period (preceding the date of the transfer).

That isn’t the Football Association’s restriction, it’s a device put in place by the Home Office to give local players a better chance of emerging from the bulging academies around the island. The other European nations have no such limits in place.

Segolela – who made his fifth international appearance against Lesotho - has only just returned to the Bafana fold, and had yet to feature in Gordon Igesund’s plans before this month. And Maseru was just a friendly. It doesn’t count. Without a single African Cup of Nations or World Cup chance so far, Segolela has a long way to go to reach the Home Office standard.

I'm afraid 24 months is a lifetime in football.

Sukazi insisted on Radio2000 his player could get “special dispensation” to gain a work permit but that hasn’t happened for three years. The last player to go to England without having played the stipulated 75 percent over two years (sitting on the bench doesn’t count, you have to come on) was a certain Little Pea.

Mexico’s Javier Hernandez was allowed to go to Manchester United after just five games for his nation – but he was still a teenager and starred in the World Cup in South Africa. Before that, players like Cesc Fabregas and Mathieu Flamini at Arsenal were allowed to join Arsenal academies only because they were under sixteen.

Segolela will get no special dispensation. To suggest he might is unfair to both the player and to South Africa fans.

Even players who DO fit the criteria in recent years – like Andile Jali, Teko Modise, Siphiwe Tshabalala and Itumeleng Khune – have shown far more consistent quality and failed to make it beyond trials or tabloid gossip.

The truth is, Segolela WAS impressive against Lesotho. He does deserve to have his questionable final year at Pirates confirmed – or he should be allowed to leave on a free for a rival club.

But to suggest, on the basis of two goals against the side ranked 155 in the world, that he is now destined for international stardom is simply laughable.

Segolela can make a start against the Central African Republic in Cameroon on Saturday - and a week later against Ethiopia in Addis Ababa if Igesund picks him for the do-or-die World Cup qualifiers.

But surely, the wise thing is to find him a starting role in the PSL before reaching for pie on the Sky channels?

Terry refuses to buckle as Drogba takes Arsenal apart once more

IT took just seven minutes of Chelsea's 2-0 win over Arsenal at Stamford Bridge today for John Terry to prove the point I've been making all week. Under incredible pressure, the axed England captain can produce the goods on the field. It matters not that he is the subject of continuing media speculation, that he gets booed at every touch, that he has been publicly humiliated this week.

At Chelsea today, it was his towering header over Arsenal's otherwise impressive Alex Song which set up the opening goal for Didier Drogba, the Ivory Coast striker who loves to score against the Gunners.

That's why Fabio Capello's decision to axe Terry before the World Cup is flawed. Okay, we all understand the reasons for it - the relationship with Wayne Bridge's former partner was always going to be a problem - and the Italian has proved he is omnipotent in the England camp.

But you won't find a better man than Terry to lead the World Cup campaign this summer. His morals can be questioned and even on £150,000 a week his bank balance may be under pressure, but the man is a mountain on the field.

So too is Drogba of course. He scored his second after 22 minutes when Frank Lampard set him free on the breakaway. The Drog had plenty of work to do from there, but he went past two and smashed it in with his left foot. 2-0. End of story. There was once a time when a man called Nwanko Kanu from Nigeria scored a hat-trick to help Arsenal to a 3-2 win over the Blues in October 1999.

But Chelsea haven't thrown away a 2-0 lead since then and certainly these Blues didn't let it slip.

Expensively constructed, well led by Carlo Ancelotti (who has stuck by Terry), they will remain Manchester United's only true rivals for Premier League supremacy.

And Arsenal, despite having most of the possession in the second half, revert to their customary position under the miserly Arsene Wenger. Well run, economically put together, but not real contenders.

Five years without silverware will soon become six. Third place may be defended despite pressure from Liverpool, Tottenham, Manchester City and Aston Villa.

But for Arsenal fans, these last two Sundays, featuring emphatic defeats at the hands of United and Chelsea, have been hard to swallow. Sure, today was better than the 3-1 defeat at home to Sir Alex Ferguson last week, but how many times must we sit hear saying: "Arsenal were the better side but they didn't win, they don't have the firepower."

Without a genuine striker or a world class goalkeeper, Wenger continues to stick to his spending plans, if spending nothing can be called a plan.

And he does well to keep them in the Champions League shake-up year after year with players like the ineffective Denilson, dropped today, playing a major role.

But there will come a time when Arsenal fans want more. When they want something in the trophy cabinet. Much like England fans really.

And whatever you might think of John Terry's personal life, did you see him make a mistake at the back today?