May Romza rest in peace!
On Maselesele passing away
I get disturbed and emotional when I have to write a column about someone who was close to my heart after they’ve passed away. I’m talking about Lucky Maselesele, who was murdered last week and it is a really, really sad situation. I never anticipated his tragic and untimely death, nor did I think I would be talking about my former teammate as late. When I got the news, I just couldn’t believe it. I received a phone call from one lady, who informed me that Lucky was no more and that she had just identified him, on Friday. I asked what did she mean by identifying him? She told me he was no more and I still couldn’t believe it.
It was not in my power to investigate what happened, suffice to just thank her for letting me know, as bad as the news was. Still, after hanging up the phone, nothing really made sense because I just couldn’t believe that Romeo was no more. You know, a day later, the rumours started circulating that he had allegedly been caught stealing cables and all that. Well, that’s not in my space to even comment or judge the allegations – what hurts the most is the fact that Romza is no more! I won’t see or hear from him ever again. He would randomly call to say, “Hey, grootman, I’m just checking up on you. Are you ok? You’re doing a sterling job with your match analysis on TV.” He was such a good boy and the last time I spent time with him was during Kaizer Chiefs’ 50th celebration and I have attached a picture that we took just before we left for FNB Stadium. Little did I know it was the last time I would see him and this is really sad. What a gentleman Romza was! I really enjoyed spending time with him at Chiefs and I learnt some stuff from him, even though he was a youngster together with the likes of “Skapie” Malatsi, Jabu Mahlangu and others.
It is a sad moment, I must say. Only God knows why this has happened, for Lucky to be killed in such a gruesome manner! I’m told even dogs were let loose on him and they bit him, which is really, really sad. This is a very sad story that has left a really bitter taste in the mouth. Let me convey my heartfelt condolences to the Maselesele family and I pray that God gives you strength in this difficult period of your lives. It was an honour to live and share special moments with Romza. What a striker he was! This is the worst form of departure from this earth and I’ve never thought someone I know as well as Lucky would lose their life the way he did. Let’s just hope and pray that if there is a case that will be investigated, the police will find the perpetrators and justice will take its course. What has happened to Lucky should never happen to anyone. No one deserves to go through this and I’ really saddened by his untimely death. Life has to go on but, once again, only God knows why this has happened. May Romza’s life rest in peace!
On Bafana Bafana
Congratulations to Bafana Bafana for winning their two games against Ethiopia, although there’s obvious room for improvement as I mentioned in my previous column. There’s so much that coach Hugo Broos still has to work on as he’s not been here for long. We have to be a solid outfit that will be ready to fight for a place at the Qatar World Cup. I must say we have assembled a very young, energetic and brave team. Our boys will continue to learn and grow through playing games because they say the game is the teacher. The beauty about our team is that the boys are not learning losing – they are winning, which makes their learning experience all the more exciting.
Obviously there are some tactical issues that need to be addressed before they start haunting us. I’m talking about our defensive criteria or ways of defending as an individual, group and as a team. Going forward, we don’t seem to have any issues as we look like scoring whenever we go forward. When you look at the principles of playing, the attacking phase seems to be 90% covered because we are creating chances, scoring goals, getting into the final third and we are able to dominate 1-v-1 situations and that makes me happy because it means our attack is improving. When you look at our defence, you can say we are roughly at 60% or so because we are not where one would like to see us. Yes, it is not that bad, but against stronger teams, we might find ourselves in difficult situations. Not taking anything away from Ethiopia because they really played far better in the second leg than they did in their own backyard.
They looked much better at FNB Stadium and their combination play was unbelievable. The confidence from their individual players was something to marvel at. They were so amazing with a team that comprised mostly of locally-based players. Their passing game was unbelievable. At some stage, their passing game reminded me of Mamelodi Sundowns and that’s how impressive they looked. The passing in the pockets and invading our final third was something very exciting to ee. Had they taken their chances, e’d probably be talking a differnt story now. Having said that, his is how football goes and these re footballing problems which ’m sure we will find solutions to n no time. As much as they took over with limited time to prepare he team for all the games they’ve played, I must say our technical team has been really unbelievable. When you consider what this team has been through and how we have fared so far, you can’t help but admire the job they have done so far.
It is clear to see that with an experienced coach like Broos, he’s been working a lot on the mental side of things and building character. He knew that with a young team, he needed to have a brave and strong team filled with strong characters. The boys are oozing with confidence and always go out for the kill. I just hope and wish that in the next game in November, we will be able to get maximum points against Zimbabwe and then Ghana so that we can go to the next qualifying round. You must remember that if we finish top of the group, we will go to the next round, which will determine which five African countries will be going to the Qatar World Cup.