TEKO FINALLY GETS RECOGNITION

 A ONCE IN A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY

Mamelodi Sundowns medlefielder Teko Modise

Mamelodi Sundowns midlefielder and South African international Teko Modise has being given a once in a life time opportunity, the chance to play in a once off match with some of the worlds legends in football. He has being chosen to partictipate in a charity match in Nigeria organised by a sports and consultancy company, Macthmakers Consult Internationals.

Teko will play alongside the likes of former world players of the year and world cup winners Zinedin Zidane ( France) and Ronaldinho (Brazil). According to the Nigerian Football Association, the matchs objective is to draw attention to the problem of human trafficking in football. Other legends will include the likes of Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'O, Emmanuel Adebayor, Jay jay Okocha and Nwankwo Kanu http://www.kickoff.com/. In an interview with kickoff.com, Modise said that this came as a shock to him and that it is an honour to him that he is being given such an opportunity. 

 Thiis invitation brings the following conclusions to  mind :

• South African football is starting to be recognised globally.
• South african players are capable of playing against some of the best players in the world.
• And that Teko Modise's form has improvec so much that he is recognised ad compared to global soccer legends. 

I feel a sense of pride as a South African football fan, knowing that one of our own is going to take centre stage with some of the biggest names in football. It is a great opportunity for Modise and a great image builder for South African football globally.

FROM WORLD PLAYER OF THE YEAR TWO YEARS IN A ROW TO BENCH WARMER AT REAL MADRID

KAKA IN HIS GLORY DAYS

Former AC milan now Real Madrid midlilefielder Kaka.(dailymail.co.uk)

Former world footballer of the year Ricardo Izecson do Santos Leite, commonly known as Kaka was once one of the biggest names in football. Currently playing for Spanish league giants Real Madrid Kaka has not seen enough game time which has resulted in his perfomance dropping. 

This past week Kaka was part of the Madrid side that lost to Bayern Munich in a Uefa championship semi-final match at Madrids home ground the Santiago Bernabeu. His perfomance was poor and lacked the quality that he is known to produce on the field. Kaka had said before that he wanted to leave the Madrid camp and go play elswhere as he was not getting game time at Real Madrid, this after recieving descent offers from Manchester United, Arsenal and his former team AC Milan http://www.soccernews.com/. Although Kaka felt that he needed to move his coach at Madrid, Jose Mourinho feels that the team still needs Kaka and has not agreed to release Kaka from his contruct.

KAKA STILL LEFT ON THE SIDE LINES

Real Madrid midlefielder Kaka warming the bench with fellow team mate Esteban Granero. (fifa.com)

 I think that it's time Kaka left Real Madrid seeing that the more he stays there, the faster his career will go down the drain and I do not see any point in Jose refusing to release him if he keeps him on the bench half the time, he is killing Kakas' talent and Kaka is not getting any younger.
 It has come to my attention that most coaches both locally and internationally hold players to contructs although they are not using them, this to me kills players' talents hence Kakas current form. We might argue that maybe Kaka is not as good as he once was and that Jose putting him on the bench is not to blame for the way Kaka has being perfoming lately.

KOMPHELA FOR BAFANA BAFANA

WILL HE GET THE JOB DONE

Free State Stars former coach now bafana bafana assistant coach, Steve Komphela(kaliwiseonline.com)

It has being comfirmed that Steve Komphela a former South African premier soccer league coach has being appointed as the new South African national team assistant coach. With his recent achievements at club side Free State Stars I think he is the right man to help bring positive change to the South African national team , with the recent drop in wins and goals at the national team Komphela is for me the man to bring his experience and style of coaching to the benefit of the national team.

For me the appointment of Komphela is a ray of light at the end of the tunnel for Bafana Bafana, however it concerns me that Komphela does not have any silverware on his reputation as a South African coach. At a press conference held in Sandton this past week the current South African national team head coach Pitso Mosimane said that the appointment of Komphela is indeed a good one and he will work well with him by his side. The appointment of Komphela to me shows the following character of (SAFA):

• SAFA is starting to recognise the importance of local coaches
• The national team needs a person with local experience in the managenet of the national team,seeing that the current technical didnt have anyone form South Africa.

The combination of Komphela and Mosimane is a promising one and it is about time Local coaches are given a chance at managing the national team.

VV LEFT OUT IN THE COLD

 A CLUBLESS VV

kickoff.com



 Vladimir Vermozovic has indeed being given the matching orders by kaizer chiefs.All eyes are now on Ace khuse who was appointed as caretaker coach at kaizer chiefs untill the end of the season, like Augusto Palacios of Orlando pirates Khuse will head the team till the end of the season. my main concern though is whether this is the right time to bring in a caretaker coach to lead the team

• firstly the team is under a lot of preasure in the league as they are fourth on the PSL log
• secondly will Khuse be able to handle such preasure, because apart from the league there is also the nedbank cup to worry about.
• thirthly I feel that bringing a caretaker coach at this this stage of the league will see kaizer chiefs loose out on both tthe league and the nedbank cup

Replacing VV with a caretaker coach at this stage of the league is not a good idea, chiefs should have let VV finish off the season as it is almost over or got a coach with expirience in the coaching field. As far as the league is concerned, kaizer chiefs are digging their own grave.

Another aspect that comes to mind is the fact that two of the most biggest teams in south african football history(kaizer chiefs and orlando pirates) are being monitored by caretaker coaches, what does that say about south african football. Veteran coach Ted Dimitru went on kick off live and expressed his views on the situation saying that this whole caretaker coaches issue is ubnormal and its not good for the countrykickoff.com.

VETERAN COACH TED DIMITRU SPEAKS HIS MIND

kicoff.com
"It is bad for our top clubs to be coached by people who know they will most definitely be replaced at the end of the season. This just shows how much inferiority is attached to coaching in South Africa and exposes the management of the clubs when it comes to coaching''. I agree with Dimitru's views, to me this situation brings the following conclusions;

• This kind of situation confuses the fans
•   I don't expect to see miracles with the coming in of caretaker coaches  
• This kind of habit of having caretaker coaches will lead to the rest of the world not taking us seriously because this is not expected of the two main teams in the country.

 PSL teams should start taking coaching seriously because the whole caretaker coach issue is a step in the wrong direction.

VLADIMIR VERMOZOVIC IN THE FIRING LINE

Sports24.co.za



kaizer chiefs head coach Vladimir Vermozovic (VV) has had a  rather bumpy season at kaizer chiefs, with more draws than wins in the premmier league. there have being talks that he might be relieved of his duties at the end of  this season. As the teams managenent has not shown any interest in renewing his contract, which expires at the end of the season. the kaizer chiefs coach is under enormous preasure.seeing that the kaizer chiefs management have not approved an extension on his contract mtn football.com, management suggest that for him to get an extension on his contract, he has to hand kaizer chiefs their first league tilte since 2005 mtnfootball.com . From where I am standing the chances of him bringing the title to the  chiefs trophy cabinet are rare especially with th recent goal drought at kaizer chiefs.

VV AND STEVE KOMPHELA

football365.co.za



VV's days at kaizer chiefs are numbered. as city press reported that the team is now in talks with Steve Komphela, the current Free State Stars coach about coming on board as kaizer chiefs head coach at the end of the season. This puts the current kaizer chiefs coach under a lot of preasure, and draws the following conclusions to mind;

• Kaizer chiefs has given up on their current coach
• Vladimir should start looking for a new job
• kaizer chiefs has given up on winning the league title this season

komphela might not accept if chiefs was to make an offer seeing that he is also being considered as the next Bafana Bafana assistant coach. my main concern is if  Komphela were to become head coah at kaizer chiefs, will he manage because kaizer chiefs is a far bigger team than free state stars.

BENNI MCCARTHY:IN OR OUT

ORLANDO PIRATES GOLDEN BOY, BENNI MCCARTTHY

m.sportlive.co.za

The star-studed South African striker Benni McCarthy has being in great form lately for his team Orlando Pirates. This past weekend he displayed his capabilities when orlando pirates took on their all time rivals kaizer chiefs, he proved that he was a force to be reconned with when he scored two of the three goals that saw orlando pirates claim victory over kaizer chiefs. After such display of character and talent from Benni McCarthy, the question on my mind and on any football fans mind is: is it time to call Benni back into the national team? personally I think it is in the national teams best interest to give Benni another shot in the national team as he has shown a great deal of improvement at orlando pirates. I mean his track record speaks for itself:

• he scored the winning goal in the 2004 uefa champions league final and his team went on to win the final
• his won the portugues league at porto
• recieved the portuguese league golden boot
• played in the portugues super cup

also taking into consideration that he is the only south african player to achieve such things. but as good as he is, the national teams coach, Pitso Mosimane went on soweto live and said that the is absolutely no place for Benni in the national team. Yet from where I am standing there is still a worsening goal-scoring crisis in the national team.http://www.goal.com/ 
                                                   
                                                   BAFANA BAFANA HEAD COAH

goal.com
          

looking at the head coaches comment on wether Benni should be called on to the national team or not from a communications perspective, it might disadvantage the national teams image in various ways such as:

• people will think that the national team does not recognise talent and does not want to put into good use the talent and experience of gifted players 
• it might also bring up suspicions that the is favouritism,when players are called up to the national team
• the national team might loose support fron its fans, as they can see that Benni is needed yet the coach feels otherwise                                              

CLASH OF THE TITANS

(mtnfootball.com)

Once again the two power houses in the south African premier soccer league(PSL), Kaizer chiefs and Orlando pirates go head to head in a league encounter at the FNB stadium on 17 March 2012http://www.timeslive.com/.The is a lot of controversy sorrounding this encounter, other than the hype sourrounding who is going to be victorious this time, my main concern is wether the dramatic events which took place at the Ellis park stadium when these two teams played in 2001 that resulted in the death of 43 fans. although it is 11 years later, the saturday encounter is one of the biggest games in the PSL and like in 2001 the stadium will be crowded,my fear is will history repeat itself as it has a funny way of doing so.

I find my stuck with these questions:

• will the game end peacefully
• will the fans be able to behave in an orderlly manner
• will people walk out of the stadium on foot or carried on stretchers

 leading to this encounter there have been 145 matches played among these two teams, with 64 wins for chiefs and 34 for Pirates and 45 games been drawshttp://www.ghanamma.com/ .such statistics show how big both these teams are in south africa, and they are also teams which generate the most fan base out of all the teams in the PSL.

kaizer chiefs claims victory over orlando pirates with a 3-1 defeat at their last league enconter. will the results be the same tomorrow or will the buccaners turn it around

http://www.youtube.com/

Here are a few pointers tghat the PSL can take in assuring the safety and improving the the perceptions that people have about the soweto derby from a communications point of view, because after the 2001 ordeal there are still people who fear going to the stadium when the is a soweto derby.

• The PSL management should ensure that there is enough security at the game,in case of an emergency
• in improving peoples perceptions, derby players should go into communities and engage in coversations with fans assuring them that it is safe, because people take the word of a prominent figure seriously
• the match commissioner should inform fans beofre hand that the tickets are sold out to avoid any stampedes