WILL IGESUND TURN THINGS AROUND

It is no secret that the South African national football team has being struggling and all eyes are on the new Bafana Bafana head coach Gordon Igesund to try and turn things around for the better.

Gordon and the Bafana Bafana boys are faced with a tough task ahead of them as they are scheduled to take part in two international friendly matches. They will take on Mozambique on 11 September at the Mbombela stadium, in what to me seems as a practise match as they prepare to take on their toughest challenge thus far as they will go head to head with former FIFA world cup champions, Brazil in their last friendly match which will take place in Sao Paolo.

All eyes are on the Brazil friendly as this will be a tough challenge for both the coach and the players, as Brazil has being in top form lately. My concern is whether or not the Bafana Bafana squad is ready for such a task and whether Gordon Igesund can handle such a tough  task.
At this point I do not think that Bafana stand a chance against the Brazilians.

WILL HE GET THE JOB DONE

Newly appointed Bafana head coach,Gordon Igesund (sundayworld.co.za)

There are a couple of challenges I think Gordon will face as head coach, challenges such as:

• The media is forever attacking the South Aafrican national football team and this might make it hard for him to do his job
• People have lost hope in the national team, Gordon will have to convince fans that the national team is worth supporting
• He is working under pressure as his contract will be terminated if he does not make it to the Afcon semi-finals

TROUBLE IN PARADISE

Kaizer Chiefs boss Bobby Motaung was arrested by the hawks on charges of fraud. The powerful footbal boss was arrested in connection with a multi-million rand fraud case, relating to the building of the Mbombela stadium in Nelspruit in 2010football411.com

Motaung appeared in court on Thursday and was granted a R50.000 bail, this did not sit well with football fans as they were outside the court room protesting and accusing Bobby of the death of Jimmy Mahlala a former Mbombela municipal speaker.

KAIZER CHIEFS' BOBBY

Bobby Motaung, Kaizer chiefs boss(supersport.com)

Kaizer chiefs released a statement saying that the club had no knowledge of Bobbys involvement in the building of the Mbombela stadium and that this is a personal matter and the team will not be involved in any way as this does not affect the team in any way.

As much as the club feels that this is a personal matter that wont have an effect on the team, I feel that this whole Bobby scandal will affect the team in the following way:

• The clubs image will be damaged as Bobby is the face of  kaizer chiefs and anything he does goes back to the team
• Such bad publicity is not good for the team
• Kaizer chiefs is a brand and it gets affected if any of its members get bad publicity expecially the ones in the public eye
• Fans might start questioning the entire senior management of Kaizer Chiefs

Fraud in football seem to have become a serious problem, and if Bobby is to be acquitted of the fraud charges and reinstated as Kaizer Chiefs C.E.O, Kaizer Chiefs might loose some fans and people might see kaizer chiefs as an organisatiion that welcomes fraud.

WILL ROBIN SIGN ON THE DOTED LINE

With only a week left before the new season kicks off, the Dutch born striker Robin Van Persie has yet to decide which team to sign up with.

Robin Van Persie at Arsenal

The former Arsenal player is still club-less at the moment, with only three weeks left before the transfer window closes the seem to be only one team left in the hunt for this talented football player, this is after Manchester City and Juventers failed to meet the financial requirements of the Dutch international. According to the Manchester evening news , Manchester united is moving closer to sealing the deal with Van Persie.
Even Manchester United's most lethal striker Wayne Rooney has outlined his hopes that he may soon be playing alongside Van Persie, when he told the Manchester news that Dutchman would be a great addition to the Red Devils(Manchester United) squad.

My main concern however is whether the Dutch international will be able to adapt to uniteds style of play and whether Manchester United can afford the services of the Dutchman, seeing that the team is already in debt, is this truly a good move on the part of United financially?. Van Persie rejected Arsenals offer to renew his contract with weekly wages of 130.000 euros a week and a 5 million signing bonus, with the believe that he can get twice the amount if he were to sign with a different team. Wayne Rooney earns 220.000 euros in weekly wages and that is the amount that Van Persie is looking to get or more. Is Robin Van Persie worth
  220.000 euros a week though?

 WHAT A DEADLY COMBINATION THIS COULD BE

From left: Arsenals Van Persie and United's Wayne Rooney

SHEVCHENKO TURNS TO POLITICS

Former ukraine national football team captain Andriy Shevchencko bids faiwell to the football world. (picasaweb.com)

Ukranian born football striker Andriy Shevchenko( 35) has decided to hang his soccer boots and persue a future in politics. The 35 year old said in  the Dynamo Keiv website that his future will not be linked with football in any way and that he hopes for the support of everyone who has supported him throughout his football career.
The move to plitics does not come as a shock to many, seeing that in Ukrain most celebrities turn to politics when they reach a certain age.

•  The likes of former world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko, who started his own political party
• Viktor Yanukovych who is a critic for the Ukraine president
• The Ukraine coach Oleh Blokhin has served as the MP to the president

 Although it may seem like a norm that Ukraine celebrities carry and that maybe Shevchenko made the right decision in going with politics,My main concern however is whether this is the right move to make, seeing that most footballers who take this transition turn to stain their reputation, because politics is a very dirty game. One might might also argue that Shevchencko is a already a public figure and already has a puiblic role and that it may be that politics is the best way he can serve that.

Shevchenko will be joining the social democratic party and the role he will be playing at this political party is yet to be announced.

SHEVCHENKO DURING HIS GLORY DAYS AT FOOTBALL CLUB CHELSEA

 Andriy Shevchenko at chelsea(sport360.com)