Continental clashes leave hole in pocket
High Hopes for 2015
ORLANDO Pirates’ place in the Caf Confederation Cup final comes on the 20th anniversary of the club’s finest hour — winning the 1995 Champions Cup.
Jerry Sikhosana’s breakaway goal in the moments following a collision between two Asec Abidjan defenders, after Bucs had weathered a typhoon in the second leg in Ivory Coast to win 1-0 in front of a sea of red and yellow, is an image that will never fade.
We asked a man who had a close-up view of that moment, Bucs’ 1995 goalkeeper William Okpara, and manager of the current side, to compare his team with the class of 2015.
William Okpara vs Felipe Ovono Ovono is still very inexperienced. We registered two keepers for the Confed, and Brighton got injured. That left Felipe under big pressure, and he did fantastically well taking over. Brighton coming back from injury relieves some pressure. The two goalkeepers are very talented.
I was experienced in 1995, being kept out of the Nigeria team by Peter Rufai — I went to the 1998 World Cup as his deputy. Pirates used to travel with one goalkeeper at times in 1995, and I told Felipe about that.
I cannot rate myself out of five, but Felipe I will give four — he has done well. Okpara’s rating out of five:
Phiri Totetsi, Edward Motale, Gavin Lane, Mark Fish vs Happy Jele/Ntsikelelo Nyauza, Thabo Matlaba, Ayanda Gcaba, Siyabonga Sangweni/Rooi Mahamutsa In 1995 we were more like a team. Mr Khoza [Pirates chairman Irvin] went to relegated clubs like Jomo Cosmos, Dynamos and D’Alberton Callies and bought players. We told ourselves: “Not everyone will buy players from relegated clubs. Let us repay the chairman for his trust.”
We had that fight. I always say I would always want those two, Gavin Lane and Mark Fish, to play in front of me any time.
Now, we have Happy Jele and Rooi Mahamutsa back from injury.
But Nyauza and Sangweni have done well, so there is a choice. The pairing of Sangweni and Gcaba has looked very good. This defence has reached a Champions League final [in 2013]. I believe they have learnt from the lessons of that final against Al Ahly.
I would give both a rating of four, 1995 for their teamwork and 2015 because football is faster now. Okpara’s rating: Moeti was the pillar of the team. He made the team play. Without him I think we would have found it difficult winning the competition.
He and Innocent did the big jobs in the middle so Brandon Silent and Helman Mkhalele out wide could put passes through for the strikers.
The midfield now, I would not say they are not good. They are good players. What makes them good is they can play to modern football, against tighter systems where you have less space. And they do that well as a unit.
THE GODFATHER: William Okpara was a vital cog of the Orlando Pirates class of 1995
AYANDA GCABA
Okpara’s rating:
Bruce Ramokadi, Jerry Sikhosana vs Kermit Erasmus, Thamsanqa Gabuza
Gabuza plays like Jerry. But
THANDANI NTSHUMAYELO Jerry was a striker who, when he missed two or three, he was not happy — he wanted to break that net. Gabuza will fight and fight. But, and I don’t know if it’s just his character, if he misses he’s still smiling. Jerry
MPHO MAKOLA was not here to smile, he was here to do a job.
Ramokadi mostly came off the bench for us, and did a job. Kermit is a good finisher who is beginning to realise his potential. Give him a chance he can
JERRY SIKHOSANA kill a team — it’s a God-given talent. I’d give Bruce three and Jerry a five — he was the life of our team. Erasmus and Gabuza get four as a combination. Okpara’s rating: Sports medicine has mainly looked at ways to help athletes recover from injuries, hence the buzzword rehabilitation. Sports science is so advanced that there’s a new animal christened prehabilitation.
The best brains in the business of sport will elucidate on a new animal called prehab, the conditioning of players in a manner that prevents injury.
That should be the beginning of a road that leads to the revival of a local science and medicine body that can dissect how best the information gleaned from the conference can be used to suit local challenges.
The sport governance and transformation piqued my interest because it is more critical for our country not to keep the tword ORLANDO Pirates stand to lose up to R10-million for reaching two continental finals in three years.
Pirates won R9.5-million for finishing runners-up with a 3-1 aggregate defeat to Al Ahly in the 2013 Caf Champions League. Half of that went to the players. With logistical costs at R9-million, that meant a loss of R4.25-million.
In this year’s Caf Confederation Cup, Bucs estimate they will have spent R8-milllion on logistics. Should they lose the coming fortnight’s final, they will take home US$432 000 (R6.2-million). If that is split between the players again, that makes for a loss of R4.8-million. A win for Bucs will net R9-million, making a R3-million loss.
Pirates financial manager Darryl Joselowsky said the biggest cost was flights.
I would want those two, Gavin Lane and Mark Fish, to play in front of me any time
on the terraces for a second longer. The governance aspect of it, as Professor Willie Basson explained, is crucial in that “the Cricket South Africa debacle was a perfect example of when governance in a sporting organisation goes wrong”.
My wish is for the transformation component to find surefire ways of ensuring that the green and gold Springbok jersey does not continue eluding
“We fly the easiest way there, and not necessarily the cheapest,” Joselowsky said. “A lot of the places don’t have direct flights there, so we try to make the trip as comfortable as possible.
“The cost of the airfares for this Confed have been roughly R3.5-million so far. It’s up to about R560 000 a trip.”
Caf’s new rule for this Confed is that travelling teams pay their own accommodation. That removed a cost for hosts, though hotels on the continent were more expensive than in SA, said Joselowsky.
“Depending on flights, sometimes you need hotels for five nights. Hotel costs are R1.5-million to R2-million.
“Other costs are flying in referees for home matches and internal transfers. You host Caf officials for the final. Most come for the second leg, though, and Pirates have played both of those away.” scores of black players, who are ready, willing and able to serve their country but are overlooked for reasons only Heyneke Meyer and his friends can fathom.
Another important segment we have failed to get to grips with is how to make the World Cup stadiums economically viable instead of being a drain on the taxpayer. That’s not sustainable and the conference should assist with more creative and innovative ideas of how these invaluable properties can be used to generate profit. If we don’t, we may find ourselves demolishing them a la South Korea after the 2002 World Cup. That’ll leave us hypochondriacs.
The green and gold jersey must not continue eluding scores of black players