In Gord we trust: Igesund, one of our finest players, approaches the toughest test of his coaching career

In Gordon we trust: Igesund enjoying  another cup of coffee

IT is a little-known fact that Gordon Igesund, currently sitting in the hottest seat in football, was one of the best players of his generation in South Africa.

Walter Rautmann, the Austrian who coached AmaZulu with some success twenty years ago, recalls: “Gordon and I worked together as coaches at several clubs, I love the guy. Great coach. But as a player? He was the best I ever had.”

It was Walter who helped move Igesund, then 25, from African Wanderers to his native Austria in 1981. After banging them in for Durban City, Durban United, Highlands Park, Umlazi Bush Bucks, AmaZulu and Wanderers, Gordon moved first to Grazer Athletik-Sport Klub and then to the big time with Vienna’s FC Admira Wacker Mödling.

It was there, playing in the UEFA Cup, that the man with the Norwegian ancestors scored 25 goals in 76 games. Not bad for an unknown South African during the Apartheid years.

Rautmann remembers it well. His call was not solicited, nobody asked him to provide backing for the under-pressure South African coach on the eve of what promises to be a torrid African Cup on Nations.

But Walter, known variously as “King of the Zulus” and “Mr Fitness” in a long coaching career in this country, wanted to reassure us all: “Gordon knows what he is doing.  I know this man, we have worked together. He can win this thing”

Amid the searing critique of his Bafana side after the 1-0 loss against Norway in Cape Town last week – a defeat which cost this pundit his hair in a televised shearing on eTV Sunrise after a public promise – the reception surrounding the 0-0 draw against Algeria in Orlando on Saturday was equally scathing.

But Gordon remains on track. He knows his stuff. Take away his ability as a player and examine his background as a coach. He won the South African title with a record FOUR different clubs, has won silverware with FIVE.

And of course, just last season, he revived a relegation-bound Moroka Swallows and took them to within a Benni McCarthy goal of denying Orlando Pirates their second successive treble. Without him this season, they are back among the strugglers.

Now is NOT the time to examine Gordon’s credentials. To call for his scalp as we head towards Soccer City and the opening game against Cape Verde Islands on Saturday at 6pm.

I had lunch with Gordon at the team hotel in Monte Casino last week. He liked the shaven head forced on me by his side’s defeat and remains remarkably upbeat despite the huge pressure being heaped on him and his squad for their lack of pre-tournament goals.

His upbeat comments after the Norway and Algeria friendlies have earned ridicule in some quarters, but he dashed out to the car park after lunch and assured me: “Look Neal, I haven’t even let them see my best side yet. That is yet to come.

“We will score goals. I’ve got the four best strikers available in Tokelo Rantie, the PSL top scorers Bernard Parker and Lehlohonolo Majoro and of course, Katlego Mphela. I’ve got Thulani Serero at 85 percent right now, but he will be 100 by Saturday.

“We’re playing well, man. We’re hard to beat. I still believe we can do this.”

Having limited Algeria, Africa’s second-best side, to a single shot on goal, he will hear no critique of his centre-back pairing of Buccaneer Siya Sangweni and the articulate Bongani Khumalo either.

Khumalo is plagued by detractors who suggest his well-modulated English somehow stops him from being a gritty defender. But Gordon knows full well: “So many of the fans out there are ruled by which club they support. But come the kick-off, they’ll all get behind us. I know they will. I know I have done all I can do.”

He has. On Saturday we will find out if "all I can do" is good enough. Will be play two strikers? Preferably Rantie and Majoro with Mphela as an impact sub? Will he play Serero and May Mahlangu in an attempt to provide forward momentum in a midfield hamstrung by ponderous defensive psychology?

We will soon see. But for now, IN GORDON WE TRUST. Until Saturday. And beyond...

TUNE in to www.702.co.za from anywhere in the world to listen to SportsTalk, which I now produce on Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape Talk with presenter Udo Carelse EVERY NIGHT except Saturday. Monday to Thursday, 8-9pm. Fridays and Sundays, 7-9pm. Call us 011 883 0702 and I'll get you on air!

Gordon’s coaching career

1995                   African Wanderers

1996–2000           Manning Rangers

2000–2001           Orlando Pirates

2001–2002           Santos Cape Town

2002–2006           Ajax Cape Town

2006–2008           Mamelodi Sundowns

2008–2009           Maritzburg United

2009–2010           Free State Stars

2010–2012           Moroka Swallows

2012–                  South Africa

Gordon’s titles 

• 1996/97 PSL champion (Manning Rangers)
• 2000/01 PSL champion (Orlando Pirates)
• 2001/02 PSL champion (Santos)
• 2000 BP Top Eight Cup winner (Orlando Pirates)
• 2006/07 PSL champion (Sundowns)
• 2007 SAA Supa 8 winner (Sundowns)

Hair today, gone tomorrow: how I was scalped live on eTV Sunrise thanks to Bafana's blow-out

THIS all started with Ray White (www.twitter.com/raywhitesa) when he asked me to talk about South Africa playing a very young Norway on Talk Radio 702 (www.twitter.com/radio702) on Tuesday. I casually said to him: "If they lose to this bunch of Vikings, I'll shave all my hair off."

And of course when I went on air, I repeated my ridiculously optimistic promise. The scenes above took place before my weekly appearance on eTV Sunrise. Hairy, but necessary.

I'd spoken to Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Igesund on the Early Breakfast, he'd sounded so confident, so happy about his "Dream Team" as they prepared for the African Cup of Nations, which kicks off on January 19 at Soccer City.

Cutting edge: Sunrise's Desiree the depilator

Five hours later, there we were, watching a packed Cape Town Stadium - sold out with nearly 35,000 in the ground - lament the continuing woes of their national football team in the penultimate friendly before hosting AFCON 2013.

Katlego Mphela, the man who suffered sore Kneeskens until Johan left Mamelodi Sundowns, nearly got an early goal but there was nothing Itumeleng Khune could do when Tarik Elyounoussi, the Norwegian captain (ironically a Moroccan who moved to Scandinavia aged 12), scored the only goal four minutes before half-time.
Mphela, still showing signs of ring rust after his long injury lay-off, was replaced in the second-half but even with all three of his other strikers on, Igesund's Bafana couldn't produce an equaliser, let alone a winner.

Thusa Phala, the unknown Platinum Stars midfielder, was voted man of the match for his second half destruction of the young Viking left back... but he, like Majoro, Parker and Rantie, failed to find the net despite numerous chances.

Chiskop meets Gord: me at Monte Casino on January 10, 2013 with the
Bafana Bafana manager Gordon Igesund who has, idirectly, become
my barber. He told me at the SuperSport AFCON launch: "I think it suits
you!" He also revealed: "I haven't played my best side yet."

What was it Pitso Mosimane, the previous Bafana boss said? "South Africans can't score goals at international level". Oh how the injured Benni McCarthy, despite his weight and age, is missed.

Igesund produced some brave after match comments after a depressing defeat, insisting: "We will be hard to beat at AFCON, I'm disappointed but I still believe we are starting to show our worth as a unit."

As Gordon's greatest fan, I have to say that's a little optimistic. With Algeria to come in the final friendly in Johannesburg on Saturday, it's cheeky outsider Cape Verde at Soccer City to open AFCON on January 19. The Group A fixtures will be completed by games against Angola and Morocco at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.

Close shave: with Sindy Mabe

Anything less than six points is likely to bring a repeat of the 2010 World Cup scenario under Carlos Alberto Parreira, when South Africa became the first hosts not to emerge from the pool stages. I'm predicting another four-point failure - at the World Cup, South Africa drew with Mexico, lost to a Diego Forlan-inspired Uruguay and beat falling stars France but failed to qualify by a single goal-post.

Captain Bongani Khumalo gave a more realistic appraisal of the situation, confessing: "We have a lot of work to do," but in his public school English, he added: "We will be ready by January 19."

Sadly, my hair won't. My spirit of optimism, forged in the face of bickering, negative Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs fans complaining about the composition of Gordon's Bafana - I'm not sure Andile Jali, Sifiso Myeni or Sundowner Teko Modise would really have made a difference - has taken a serious knock.

But hey, hair today, gone tomorrow I say. I continue to trust Gordon. At least until half-time against the minnows from the volcanic islands 250 miles west of Africa. And having been compared to Chester Missing, Ed Jordan and Kojak after my barbaric haircut, I have to say, optimism grows on you.

Spot the bald: at the eTV studios in Hyde Park, Joburg

I will baldly go to the final frontier with Gordon and his Boys. He knows as well as anybody failure to reach the last four will result in summary dismissal from the hottest South African seat outside of Nkandla.

So I wear my "chiskop" with pride, charging R5 to charity for every passing slap on my shaven pate. And I'd gladly do it again. Thanks Desiree, the ETV Sunrise make-up lady who had never shaved a head in her life.

And thank you future president Sindy Mabe for removing the hair from my eyes during the interview. Thanks Neo Monyetsane and Pholoho Selebano for making me live up to my promise.

Sooner or later, the missus will forgive me. Until then, I will be saving on the shampoo and hair-drier.
And if we get to the final on February 10 and lose to the Ivory Coast, Zambia, Ghana or Nigeria, I'll happily do it all again.

While Bafana sleep, SAFA burns: the eery backdrop to the 2013 African Cup of Nations

Togo or not Togo? This is the 2010 side put
together by Wilson Raj Perumal which contained
NO Togo internationals against Bahrain

STRANGE days indeed for South African football. Bafana Bafana will be sleeping peacefully in Cape Town tonight while SAFA burns.

When Gordon Igesund’s “dream team” take on a sub-standard Norway on Tuesday in the Mother City, the action at SAFA’s glitzy headquarters next to Soccer City is likely to be far from friendly.

Look, it’s great to see Cape Town actually getting a Bafana game. They didn’t bother to bid as a host city for the 2013 African Cup of Nations, so they get this friendly, with former Wimbledon boss Egil Olsen bringing six debutants on tour to play the hosts followed by AFCON champions Zambia in Ndola on January 12.

It won’t be much of a test. In Norway, “home-based” generally means “didn’t quite make it”. There are many other nations where the same is true.

Gordon Igesund, apparently oblivious to the pressure created by a unique failure to emerge from the group stages at the 2010 World Cup, assures us: “It won’t be a train-smash if we draw or lose, it will not be the end of the world. To me, the only result that really matters is the one on the 19th against Cape Verde at Soccer City.”

And the same can be said of the friendly against Algeria on January 12 in Johannesburg, the final run-out before the big kick-off.

Truth is, these pre-tournament friendlies are meaningless of course. Unless, like South Africa’s games before the World Cup two years ago, they turn out to be fixed by a dodgy agency called Football 4U.

Wilson Raj Perumal’s company, the people behind Zimbabwe’s Asiagate scandal, were called in to organise those friendlies when SAFA suddenly realised they didn’t have anything planned at the back end of 2009. Perumal even offered to pay SAFA R1m for each friendly successfully hosted. Amazing.

Initially, I thought it was an innocent mistake from a desperate SAFA. Now I know differently. The guilty party knew EXACTLY how Zimbabwe got themselves in a fix in 2009 with the shock waves still reverberating around that scandal.

Perumal is a 47-year-old Singaporean with a long history of match-fixing. It was he who put out 11 amateurs masquerading as Togo’s national side against Bahrain in September 2010. And of course, he was behind Zimbabwe throwing matches against Thailand, Malaysia and Syria in 2009.  He says he does it to help African footballers “living in squalor”, paying them paltry amounts to fix matches while he makes huge profits on the Far East betting markets.

Perumal was first jailed for match-fixing in 1995 when he paid a football captain in Singapore $3,000 to throw a game. In 2000 he was convicted of assault for attacking Ivica Raguz, a player in Singapore’s Woodlands Wellington team. Apparently he was trying to weaken the team.

Perumal is still wanted in Singapore after being sentenced to five years for running over a police officer outside Changi airport in May 2009. He skipped bail and fled to England, where he lived under an assumed named before he left for Finland, where he was arrested in 2011 for attempting to fix local league matches. In the midst of all this, he managed to find time to sort SAFA out too.

Telephone records seized from Perumal’s hotel room in Finland show a global network of contacts including FIVE national football federations stored on his mobile, along with numbers for several current and former international players and referees.

Perumal served one year of a two year sentence in Finland and was released last year, his current whereabouts is thought to be Hungary where he is on remand… for match-fixing.

It would be best if South Africa simply came out and said all they know about their dealings with Perumal rather than attempting to brush everything under the carpet. Especially now, before a major tournament.

The identity of the man who first called Perumal – and allegedly took R1m from him for each of the friendlies – needs to be made public to clear up this mess.

Instead, President Kirsten Nematandani, suspended when FIFA’s report on those games dropped a fortnight ago, reinstated himself in the car-park outside the Association’s offices on Friday. Yes, in the car park, because his office was taken.

Curiously, the man who filled Kirsten’s dancing shoes, Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana, is none too happy about the man in suspenders returning with fellow exiles Dennis Mumble, Lindile “Ace” Kika and Adeel Carelse even before the enquiry promised by Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula.

In fact, that inquiry may now never be held. Mbalula says “hosting AFCON is of chief importance” maintaining that the match-fixing report will now be referred to “appropriate committees”.

That’s dangerous stuff. If FIFA sense a government minister interfering with football affairs, they have been known to take punitive action.

The Sunday Sun quotes a source saying: “Kirsten feels his name has been dragged through the mud, now we have to do damage control” while suggesting (strongly) an on-going war between Nematandani and Nonkonyana beneath a split picture of the pair and the headline GLOVES OFF AT SAFA.

Kirsten himself says: “AFCON is around the corner. This is where we need to channel our energy now. This has been a challenging time, a test of strength.”

My own source suggests “everyone knew SAFA’s consultant was fixing games before the World Cup.”

And the obvious conclusion is that Nematandani was reinstated on orders “from the very top” to keep him from revealing all about those unbeatable friendlies against Thailand, Bulgaria, Colombia and Guatemala. You’ll see what I thought of the 5-0 win against Guatemala at Polokewane on the night here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjzwzNhaeTM&list=UUkGxwYf7NwY7vYMdeTBg41w&index=26.

So SAFA, while keeping team hotel robberies secret and upsetting the SABC over their deal to cover tonight’s game on SuperSport, is humming with intrigue and back-stabbing over the real personality behind the match-fixing scandal.

  

They say the truth will out. Perhaps. If FIFA are serious about stopping match-fixing after Australian Chris Eaton’s resignation as their match-fixing hunter. But this one goes right to the top, close to the president himself. So it’s unlikely.

We could also mention the curious case of Thuso Phala and Siyanda Xulu, who had “everything taken” by robbers while in camp with Bafana at the Elangeni Hotel in Durban last month. That nasty little tale has been kept top secret by SAFA too.

It’s  also worth mentioning a report in Sunday’s City Press, claiming SAFA are bleeding cash, with R10m lost in the first four months of the current financial year and R56m gone last year. SAFA are mumbling about it being "just a cash flow problem", but again, we’ll see.

Despite this bleak backdrop, Gordon’s Boys must play on. Beating Norway’s local lads and Algeria’s AFCON failures shouldn’t be too tough. Then they take on cheeky Cape Verde, near-neighbours Angola and mighty Morocco in a bid to reach the knock-out stages on home soil as they did so emphatically – but against all expectations – in 1996.

I believe that, despite all the SAFA suffering, Bafana WILL get to the quarter-finals… and they do so with one glimmer of good news. Sipho Sithole, the musical AFCON publicist, tells me 350 000 tickets have been sold so far, despite confirming that the government’s funding for marketing only arrived on December 21.

Sithole laughs: “Four days before Christmas. And they expect us to have all the billboards and flags in place. It’s going to be difficult. But ticket sales are going as well as we could have hoped.”

If you are still hanging around the local Super Spar and struggling to get your tickets, twitter Sipho on @nativerhythms or call the hotline on 087 980 3000. It’s not too late.

QUESTIONS FOR SAFA:

Do you accept you broke FIFA Statute 13.1 (g), which prohibits the control of its affairs by an outside party?

Why was the appointment of Football 4U International never brought to the attention of the SAFA NEC?

Who decided to suspend Kirsten Nematandani when the report landed? And given that he is your president, who has the power to make such a quick decision when he was NOT one of the six named by FIFA for "further investigation"?

A shorter version of this story will appeal as my Neal and Pray column in www.thenewage.co.za on Tuesday.

Musona coming back to South Africa? Not to my Knowledge!

Thirst for Knowledge: But Musona will be staying in Germany

IF there's one man who can get South African football lovers all shook up, it's an educated guess on the transfer window destination of Knowledge Musona, the Zimbabwean sharp-shooter who leapt to prominence as a youngster with Kaizer Chiefs two years ago.

In this week of matriculation results, perhaps we should call this phenomenon a “Thirst for Knowledge” as the AmaKhosi, Buccaneers and Msandawana fans claim an imminent signing.

Currently plying his trade in Germany – where he is on loan with FC Ausburg after signing for 1899 Hoffenheim in 2011 – the social networks are abuzz with rumours of a return to the PSL today.

Sadly, I can report that there was no real Knowledge behind those whispers. I spoke to his agent Mike Makaab this morning and he assured me: “There’s no truth in those rumours at all. He’s a 22-year-old making his way in Europe. He will stay and fight for his future in Germany. There have been absolutely no talks about coming back to South Africa.

“Knowledge is fine in Germany, I don’t know where these reports came from.”

I think I can explain that. The uncertainty arose with the arrival of former Germany defender Stefan Reuter as the new boss at Ausberg last month.

The former Bayern, Juventus and Dortmund right back, who played 69 games for his nation, took over from Jürgen Rollmann at the struggling Bundesliga club during the current mid-winter break.

With Ausberg on a meagre nine points after 17 games, they are level with rock-bottom SpVgg Greuther Furthe, the newly-promoted club that nearly signed Mamelodi Sundowns’ Zimbabwean striker Nyasha Mushekwi at the start of the season.

Reuter, a pacy defender known as Turbo during his playing days, arrived promising a clear-out and Musona looked an obvious target.

According to http://www.bundesliga.com/en/liga/clubs/fc-augsburg-1907/kader.php Musona, after a debut goal in the 2-0 German Cup win over SV Wilhelmshaven, has gone 737 minutes without a  Bundesliga goal.

With Reuter signing South Korea striker Ji Dong-Won on loan from Sunderland,  Ausburg now have SIX strikers – with Musona curiously listed as a midfielder.

Makaab accepts Musona needs to show Reuter what he can do when the Bundesliga resumes on January 19. Fortunately for Knowledge, his national side narrowly failed to qualify for AFCON 2013 in South Africa – they lost in the play-offs to Angola, going out on away goals – and the latest news from Zimbabwe is that they may withdraw from 2014 World Cup qualifiers through a lack of cash.

With the nation still recovering from the AsiaGate match-fixing scandal, ZIFA vice-president Ndumiso Gumede is quoted today saying: "There is no money to pay for travel expenses and other incidentals. We have decided not to engage in any international matches unless the government chips in with financial assistance."

The association is currently R40m in debt with president Cuthbert Dube and a company called Mbada Diamonds keeping them afloat with cash hand-outs after an opening qualifying defeat on the road to Brazil against Guinea was followed by a draw with Mozambique. Zimbabwe are due to play Egypt in late March.

Musona’s Amakhosi days have become the stuff of legend. He joined the Chiefs from Aces in Zimbabwe having not played a Premier League game in the land of his birth.

As a teenager, he was a super-sub in 2009–10 season and won PSL Club Rookie of the Year award. The next season, he scored 15 goals in 28 league games to win the Lesley Manyathela Golden Boot.

Amid a general thirst for Knowledge, agent Makaab chose a five-year deal at 1899 Hoffenheim over Serbian giants FK Partizan and Scottish champions Celtic as the preferred European destination.

Hoffenheim paid R13m to Chiefs and Ausburg have, in turn, paid Hoffenheim R1m to take him on loan this season. Common sense tells us Knowledge will have to repay that fee with some goals in the second half of the season. Or he really could be back in the PSL next season.

Looking back on 2012 with Jeff Maloi: and hoping for glory at AFCON 2013!

Talking to Jeff Maloi this morning, summing up South Africa's troubled 2012 and our hope for Gordon Igesund's Bafana Bafana at AFCON2013... plus a bit of Lionel Messi! You can get eNCAnews on DSTV channel 403 or Sky 518

In Gordon we trust: the 23 men who must do South Africa proud

Dream team: Gordon Igesund

Gordon Igesund’s big announcement did not disappoint. Sunday’s naming of South Africa’s squad of 23 for the African Cup of Nations left us shaken and stirred.

For Moeneeb Joseph, the Orlando Pirates goalkeeper who featured in Igesund’s first Bafana squad in Brazil barely four months ago, a gaping chasm appeared between January 19 and February 10.

But for his Buccaneering replacement Senzo Meyiwa, AFCON 2013 will be a reality, though Itumeleng Khune remains in charge of the gloves.

For two of the nation’s biggest names – Teko Modise of Mamelodi Sundowns and Sea Robber Andile Jali – Igesund could find no opening. Sifiso Myeni, Siyanda Xulu, Daine Klate and Riccardo Nunes, all new recruits to Bafana, were left disappointed too.

But Platinum Stars’ 26-year-old attacking midfielder Thuso Phala appeared from nowhere after guiding his unfashionable Crocodiles to the PSL’s Q2 bonus and May Mahlangu, Sweden’s player of the season, got his foot in the door too.

And there was even a place for Katlego “Killer" Mphela – no relation to adidas’s Katlego football launched for this tournament – despite an injury which has reduced him to four appearances and two goals for Mamelodi Sundowns this season.

Just before I went on eNews on Sunday to discuss a squad which sent a tsunami across the social networks, I got hold of Gordon to talk about his “dream team”.

After a morning which saw my #ingordwetrust hash tag dominant, Igesund was still riding the wave. And most importantly, he appears to have no doubts about 23-man squad which kicks off against lowly Cape Verde at The National Stadium (aka FNB Stadium and Soccer City) 19 days’ time.

He laughed: “This is a fantastic team, I have complete confidence in these lads. For the fans, it’s easy to say I should pick this player of that player. But to those who keep asking why Joe Soap isn’t in the team, I can only say 10 different coaches would give you 10 different squads.

“Look, only time will tell if I’ve made the right decisions… but we’ve been in camp, we’ve seen the players. There have been some sleepless nights, some very marginal decisions. But now I have no doubts in my mind.”

Amid calls for a six-week amnesty on club fanaticism, it’s worth pointing out PSL leaders Kaizer Chiefs have a record SEVEN players in the squad – alongside the same number of foreign-based stars. Orlando Pirates are second with four and Mamelodi Sundowns, after the disastrous reign of Johan Neeskens, offer just two of their highly-paid stars. Igesund of course, will be fighting for his future.

Failure to qualify on home soil from a group which features the Cape Verdians, Morocco and Angola could spell the end for a reign which began with a 1-0 defeat against Brazil in Sao Paulo on September 7.

But we can only take the word of the man himself as Modise and Jali fade in to the sunset with big names injuries like Benni McCarthy, Morgan Gould and Tower Mathoho: “I believe I have selected the cream of the crop in South African football at this point in time.”

To the cynics who refuse to join the chorus of approval, pointing to South Africa's early exit from the World Cup in 2010, I say this: Mexico, Uruguay and France were a lot tougher than Cape Verde, Angola and Morocco. And even then, Bafana were the width of a post from qualification. It's time to back the nation. In Gordon We Trust.

SAFA match-fixing: pre-World Cup naivety or serious corruption?

My take on the SAFA match-fixing allegations. Note: Bafana players are EXONERATED... and Wilson Raj Perumal's indiscretions first came to light a year AFTER he organised South Africa's pre-World Cup friendlies.