A serious case of déjà vu
without the help of Google. The opposite is generally true for Chiefs where Google probably relies on the fans to get to the names of the plethora of stars that Chiefs have thrown into the limelight over many years.
A glance across the road to wherever Orlando Pirates prefer to call their home – the club headquarters jumps around depending on chairman Irvin Khoza’s preferences – I see they too did not have a lucky entry to the month of October in the PSL.
AmaZulu FC, like Polokwane, pulled the rug out from under the feet of the Buccaneers. You shall have to understand that Bucs, before this upset, were looking at a spot on the top rungs of the PSL and they were aiming to get there just this very weekend.
It is also not unlikely that a club such as Pirates had probably banked on staying on the top for a while. Big successful clubs often do that. It is called succession planning, meaning you must have a plan about what you are going to do once you have succeeded.
Pirates, however, did not reckon on the grit of AmaZulu under coach Gavin Johnson. This coach was not so long ago “dishonourably” discharged from Highlands Park who had proven to be more of a donkey and a lame duck, rather than a pedigreed racehorse in the previous seasons of the PSL.
Highlands had sacked Johnson blaming him for their poor showing in the league a few seasons ago. Johnson ate humble pie and bided his time. He took up the reins at the old but not very impressive AmaZulu and look at them now. I kid you not, that drawn game against Orlando Pirates at the weekend was celebrated in Mashu as though it was the full Monty.
AmaZulu’s “winning draw” over Pirates is doing wonders in the Durban club’s camp. Their spirits are sky high in contrast to their lowly position of number 16 on the log.
It is like they’ve had a puff on something recently unbanned and now think the sky’s the limit. Well, I won’t bank on a repeat performance yet from them. But then again, as they say in football, the ball rolls around (Ibola liya ginqika!).
Oh, by the way, did you see former CAF champions, Mamelodi Sundowns down at the lower end of the league’s top rankings?
Jeez they look downright out of place there!
If one is familiar with the character of the South African football fan then that position, if not altered in the next game or two, will soon unlock howls of outrage among the multitudes of ka bo yellow fans.
We’ve seen this movie before, haven’t we?