MAKE YOUR POINT

THE DEADLINE FOR NEXT WEEK’S ‘MAKE YOUR POINT’ IS MONDAY, 10AM.

POINT MADE…

In Soccer Laduma Issue No. 1356, I really don’t think Kwazikwakhe Ngcobo was negative and showing jealousy towards Doctor Khumalo’s column. Football is a game of opinions and I want to believe that he was just stating his opinion. This is MAKE YOUR POINT, anyway. “Bhotsotso” Mkhize, Eshowe, Mpaphala, KZN

AGREED, DOCCIE

For the first time in a while, I have to agree with Mdokis. It looks like these European teams don’t take Afcon seriously compared to the Euro, but again, our players are unpatriotic. I’ve watched Mahrez and Salah’s performances in this year’s edition, and at times they look disinterested. They just honoured these call-ups to avoid being labelled unpatriotic. Bodies are here but minds in Europe. Klopp said openly how he wished Egypt could be knocked out early. This club v country debacle isn’t new. I think the solution is to schedule this tournament in June/July while most of Europe’s leagues are in recess. Had the Afcon been played mid-year, I don’t think Kompany would have asked for Foster to be excused. I understand some players secured these lucrative contracts overseas after being spotted playing for their national teams, so they are what they are today because of their national teams, but these teams paid a fortune to secure their signatures. The timing ain’t good. Napoli isn’t Napoli without Osimhen, same with Liverpool minus Salah. Someone has to compromise. Tente “The Brains” Mokoka, Sepharane

BASEBENZIL’ ABAFANA!

Congrats to coach Broos and his players for a convincing 4-0 victory over Namibia. They all deserve a pat on the back for a job well done. He applied the right tactics and the players followed the instructions to a tee. It was a select few who had faith in Bafana going to this game after losing to Mali. My message to them is that they can go all the way if only they believe in themselves. Only Bafana can beat Bafana at this point in time. The coach must take the advantage of his previous championship with Cameroon and use it with Bafana. The players must remember the Class of 1996 and make the country proud again. In fact, they can do even better. They have the full support of Minister Zizi Kodwa, our President, the soccer legends and supporters who are in Ivory Coast right now, and our Lord Jesus Christ is with them. Shalom! Vuyisile “Tata ka Princy” Bovu, Cofimvaba

When Bafana were awarded a penalty via VAR against Namibia, I got very upset as I saw Tau walking towards the penalty spot. I asked myself, ‘Why?’ As much as I was relieved when he scored, I do not like what he did. He wanted to prove a point while we have two other penalty takers for the team. So unnecessary! Had he missed, we’d be singing a different tune now. Our neighbours had our defence in sixes and sevens but failed to convert, with the reliable talisman Shalulile among the culprits. We became the first team in this Afcon tournament to score four goals without reply and ironically, the last time we scored four in an Afcon game was many moons ago against the very same opponents, with Benni netting all the goals. Overall, our boys played very well. The introduction of speedy Morena helped us as he created the first two goals and it also kept Hanamub on the back foot. We just have to sort out our shaky defence as better opponents will punish us. The group was wide open going into the last fixtures last night. I believe! Amos “Tiger” Tshukudu, Ga-Maria

Seeing how this Afcon is unfolding, I must concur that we’ll see a dark horse winning this tournament because no one is guaranteed a positive result, including the big nations. Plus, I haven’t seen any top players showing what they are truly made of. What surprised me is seeing ex-Man United man Bebe doing well, showing great general knowledge of football. Equatorial Guinea have shown they aren’t there to make up numbers. On a different note, reading the Jimmy Kauleza interview, everything he said is talking about what I’m currently observing and thinking about the status quo in our national team. Mr Editor and Mr Vusumuzi Radebe, I enjoy this brainteaser crossword puzzle and it really tests your general knowledge about football. Jeffrey “Oarasib” Hartzenberg, Klapmuts, Stellenbosch

I’m speechless but with a lot to say. Oxymoron! Angola v Mauritania tops my list of exciting matches. I actually started penning this letter after the fifth goal of the match was scored. The suspense was killing me! For me, this is the game of the tournament already, from minnows nogal. I dare challenge the rest of the teams to surpass that performance. Forget the tactics, this is a game that if you had told me prior to it that both coaches’ team talk was, “Go out there, show your talent and enjoy the game”, I would not have believed you. Such an entertaining game of football with quality goals. Senegal v Cameroon was entertaining, ditto SA v Namibia. The fight between Africa and Europe about the Afcon will never end, hence I concur with those who suggest CAF reconsider hosting the Afcon during the off-season for the betterment of African football. We are being deprived of watching our own talent being displayed on the big stage. For Umar Sadiq to be declared injured, only to feature for his club Real Sociedad, was just disrespect. Strangely, the Asian Cup is also taking place concurrently with Afcon, but there aren’t disturbing stories like the ones involving our tournament. Lucky Khunou, Meriting

What a fantastic game by SA against Namibia. Congrats to Bafana. We were good, from the goalkeeper to the striker. I can’t wait for our next game. Nyambeni Samson Khuphani, Tshiawelo Ext 5

Kudos to Bafana for doing the country proud by hammering the

stubborn Brave Warriors with a heavy score line. They outplayed, outsmarted and outclassed the more determined Namibia. I think history repeats itself. If memory serves, every time we play Namibia and Tunisia we have a successful tournament and reach the final. On both occasions we met them, Bafana shone. In 1996, we played Tunisia in the final and won courtesy of Mark Williams’ brace to lift our one and only Afcon trophy. In Burkina Faso ’98, we defeated Namibia by 4-1 courtesy of Benni’s double brace. Yet again, the football gods are with us in Ivory Coast. Zwane netted a brace and once again we managed to hit Namibia for four. May God bless South Africa. In Bafana, I believe. Boitumelo Vanrooyen, Schweizer-Reneke

Compliments of the New Year to fellow Soccer Laduma readers. Let me quickly reflect on the Afcon game between SA and Namibia. I must commend Tau for the bravery of taking the penalty after missing one against Mali and the backlash received. Zwane demonstrated why he is rightly considered one of the best players in Africa and he delivered when it mattered most. Character. Hats off to the players and technical team for the performance. Just keep up the momentum against Tunisia as that game is do-or-die for us. On a different note, I think CAF must improve the offering from a broadcasting point of view. We can’t normalise “we apologise for poor quality of pictures, our engineers are working on it”. It’s rare to witness that in Europe. If we want to be respected globally, we must master the basics or else the Afcon will always be treated like a poor cousin in a family gathering, which won’t augur well for the development of African football.

Thapelo Masiapata, Ramarokavillage,Bolobedu

When everyone lost hope and didn’t want anything to do with Bafana, they responded by giving a top-notch performance against Namibia. It was surprising how Broos sang Zwane’s praises, one of the players he once called all sorts of names, who is now at the forefront in saving his job. Let’s see where it’s going to end.

SiyabongaN kalambela,Delft

As 2023 Afcon rolls towards the climax, we’ve seen the triumph of the Biblical Davids over the Goliaths. Namibia overcame Tunisia and Cape Verde mauled down Ghana. Bafana played well against Mali and were destined to win until Tau missed the penalty, and then panic set in. The reigning champions, meanwhile, are doing exceedingly well. Cisse has achieved phenomenal success with Senegal. He has a consultative management style and always consults with his technical team. The Senegal Football Federation should be credited for patiently supporting the coach through thick and thin since his appointment in 2015. They’ve given him ample time to teach the Lions of Teranga how to hunt according to his own football philosophy. It’s a good lesson and example that football federations in Africa should give abundant tenures to coaches so as to introduce their playing philosophies to their players. The federations need to implement long-term plans for the coaches. When coaches are hired unconditionally on long-term deals, they develop the DNA and intrinsic fabrics of African football. Batsirai K ativu, Johannesburg

This Afcon has served me humble pie. The games are now heating up as I complained of boring stuff in Soccer Laduma edition 1356. I enjoyed the Egypt v Ghana and Cameroon v Senegal games, seriously. Cisse is doing a great job with Senegal, he outclassed his friend Song technically. Cameroon were fighting, while Senegal were intelligent, making football look easy. Regarding Egypt v Ghana, any one of the two should have won, as both displayed football brains. Lastly, the female assistant referees are doing very well at Afcon. I thank you. Lebatlo Joshua“Mr Cool” Mati, Ramokhuthasection, Dilopye village

Good performance by Bafana against Namibia and I think they’ve put themselves in a better position to qualify for the Last 16 after losing against Mali. We had a good first half against the latter but failed to convert chances. If we did, we would have gotten a better result. But with the display the boys showed against Namibia and being so clinical in front of goal, we should have scored more. I hope by the time you read this we have secured top spot because Namibia are going to fight tooth and nail to try to force their way into the Last 16 against Mali. LeponesaChacha, Botshabelo

After Bafana went down to Mali, the match against Namibia was a must-win to keep our hopes of progressing further in the tournament alive. The changes made brought life into the team. Morena and Kekana brought stability. We started well with Morena giving the opposition defence problems with his running. Tau showed bravery when he took the penalty and this time, he scored. After the first goal, the whole team rose to the occasion, even though we survived some scary moments with our defence in shaky mode. Namibia had some clear-cut chances but failed to capitalise. It’s a massive win, but I’m still not convinced by our defence, especially Mvala. Also, I’m not sure about the roles of Sithole and Mokoena as they look the same type of player. Hopefully last night’s results favoured our boys. MadimetjaVic Mashamaite, Renstown

Qu ick One-Two’s

This current crop of our ‘soccerloving nation’ never ceases to amaze me. These divisions that we have regarding our national team are appalling, to say the least. None of the Chiefs players got selected and our club rivals laugh at my team. Bafana lose their first game and guess what, people said that Mamelodi Pirates is a disgrace to SA. If I were to vent out my frustration about this issue, I’m afraid I might end up writing an essay. I am not sure if this is caused by the current generation of supporters or has this bug also swallowed the veterans as well? We need those fans we had when we got reinstated into international football by FIFA. We won the Afcon in 1996 and Tovey, a Chiefs player at the time, lifted that trophy aloft for us. But before that, Doctor played a crucial game in that final for us to win it. But there wasn’t as much noise and divisions as we’re having today. You know why? We as supporters were wise enough to know that these players were representing SA and not their respective clubs. Here’s hoping Bafana and Broos make all of us proud, not just certain teams. Hopefully next week I’ll do a Part 2 of this issue because time and space are not on my side in this edition. N afie Moloantoa, K waThema

While enjoying the best of African football at Afcon especially with the second games of the group stage, back at home Swallows go crazy and dismiss almost the whole squad! If the management can have grounds to fire so many players, it could simply mean the players breached their contracts. This also tells us that perhaps these players were illadvised, don’t understand what they signed contractually or thought the club would not fire them. As players who’ve been in the game for long (some of them), they should have known better, honour their contracts and let their representatives or union deal with the offfield issues. It was not the first time we heard of unpaid salaries, but teams never resort to boycotting games. Now it’s going to be very difficult for all players to get teams, especially the unknown. Hopefully they learnt their lesson but also that Swallows management will do better going forward. Allow me to conclude by congratulating Bafana on their emphatic win

over Namibia.

Malesela “Dance” Boya, K anana, Hammanskraal So, our so-called celebrities are brave to criticise Onana for prioritising his European team over his national team, forgetting that we watch them doing the same thing day in, day out as they go on buying property, clothes and seek medical attention overseas as if Africa is lacking on those things and then turn around to make noise if ordinary citizens do that. Is such only reserved for them? I mean, we all know it’s wrong, but why do they do it and expect others not to? How special are they? Africa, with all her riches, facilities and hopes, is still treated like this by people who are supposed to know better, and then they turn around to make noise. I believe it’s time they lead in doing the right thing or just shut up.