Talent doesn't discriminate so why should we?

We have a great democratic country, and that
makes our nation a true and diverse country.
But lets really be honest, on the soccer field, have we really been diverse or are we just making soccer a black sport.

Now I am a soccer player my self, and I know when I see a good soccer player, regardless of the colour, it doesn’t matter. If you have the skill then you are good enough to play.

But because of our unfortunate past should we keep on punishing the white or colored soccer players who are doing well.
We’ve come a long way with our soccer and to keep it growing and maintaining the standard. My concern is that there are too many white players that are being side lined probably because of their color for guys who are constantly on the pitch with minimum work rate and less discipline.

Bradley Grobler, a young and well working striker who just needs to be given a chance whether nationally or in the premier league, he is good enough to play but his sitting on the bench won’t do anyone justice. So he has just scored two goals in last weeks game, so what are we going to now put him on the bench and give an underprivileged black striker a chance to do the same thing.

David Somma, was noticed two weeks ago by South Africans, and by SAFA. Only when he scores 6 goals in 7 matches he is a South African soccer player. Maybe if he was black people would have spotted him along time ago. But he has played in Italy, USA and his playing in England for while now. Regardless of the league, being in the Football league championship (First division) I think he would have made a difference in our squad a couple of months ago during the world cup.

When I talk about Dillon Sheppard, I really feel like crying. This was one of South Africa’s most accurate and consistent left wingers, before the Daine Klates, Lerato Chabangu’s and the Siphiwe Tshabalala’s, he had everything he needed to be on the South Africa’s starting line up in the CAF nations cup and World Cup, but I really fear that if he was sidelined because of color, then how do we really spot talent.

I know he had a bad injury that hampered his career but the fact is he is that good enough of a player.
Matthew Pattison. First of all his work rate on the football pitch is unbelievable, he does very well to retrieve the ball and does well to create goal scoring chances on the pitch.
Many of you probably thought he is a Sundown’s development player, but do you know him From Newcastle FC, or even Norwich where he reined as a player. For the World Cup preparation he was given 15 minutes on the pitch against Mpumalanga, only 15 minutes, how are you going judge a player for in minutes. I think he should have been in the National team a long time ago and he Is a extraordinary player and I trust that he will be a favorite in eyes the South African fans.

There are a lot of players I can mention, Matthew Booth who just showed his face during the world Cup(A player who received player of the year awards in Russia as a defender).Mark Van Heerden, Darren Keet, Mark Arber, Stephan Armstrong, Cheyne Fowler ,Jonathan Greenfield. Who are really doing well for their teams.i just hope we are not waiting for another white talented soccer player to score 6 goals in 7 matches then we say he is South African and we should put him in the national team.

And don’t forget, we won the African nations cup with Neil Tovey, Eric Tinkler, Rodger De Sa,Mark Fish…

Guys who where white and doing well for our nation. And regarding what race you are, when you are playing for South Africa you really don’t want to be put in the squad because of a the color of you skin ,but the maturity of your skill.

I just hope we are not waiting for another white talented soccer player to score 6 goals in 7 matches then we say he is South African and we should put him in the national team.

This is my opinion; please feel free to comment….

Dumb, Dismal and Dull Decisions.

Soccer players sometimes seem to loose the plot. I mean the choices they make are often decisions that you can see they have not really put much thought into. You should realize that I am talking from an off the pitch perspective, because if we talk about the decisions they make on the field, that’s a whole new article by itself.

Maybe you haven’t got to understand what I am talking about, so let’s get into it. Daine Klate, an accurate, basic and effective product from the Super Sport United, decided to drop a league title winning team, who is in the CAF Champions league, a club that has less stars but the best team build up, a team that is coached by the one of the best coaches South Africa has. He left a team that fills up his soccer resume and went for a team that hasn’t opened the club cabinet for the past couple of years. How does a player do that? I mean don’t you want to increase your honors.

At Orlando Pirates there is unnecessary pressure, as they’re aren’t winning any silverware and they have way too many players in the position that Klate plays. So starting may be a problem, keeping his place in the starting 11 is another issue and Pirates play a different type of football compared to Super Sport United.

Another casualty suffering from wrong decision making illness is Thembinkosi “Terror” Fonteni. A phenomenal striker, who was doing well for South Africa and his team Maccabi Haifa. He managed to secure himself 44 appearances and 17 goals whist still in Israel. He then decides to come home, the year before the world cup so that he can “secure” himself a place in the 2010 South Africa world Cup Squad. What a decision. How do you come back from an international team that gives you game time, and your scoring goals, to a team like Pirates with so many “stars” and then hope to do well and end up in the SA squad. This was a dismal decision as Terror Fanteni only appeared 12 times in a Pirates jersey and only managed to get the ball at the back of the net once.

There are other dismal decisions we can talk about, like the Teko issue of saying “no” to a Newcastle United offer, in the 2008/2009 season or Jabu “Pule” Mahlangu, coming back home from helping a 1^st division team secure a place in the Swedish Premier League and the he leaves.

Like I always say, there are debatable issues about this article, but the fact is some of these decisions that these guys make are really are stupid and it shows no thought was put into making it. Till next week enjoy.

Are foreign players ” making” local football?

Isn’t it amazing, how foreign players seem to stand out in our local Premier Soccer league clubs. I mean in most of the teams in SA there are one or two foreign players who always make it on the starting line up. And they always seem to work the hardest and score the goals.

Shouldn’t we actually be giving these guys a hard time, as they’re not really used to South African soccer. Or aren’t we supposed to be playing our best as most of them come from very bad soccer backgrounds and they’re just trying to make a living and conquer their underprivileged past.


I mean, if you look at the situation from the development side, many of the upcoming young players from the current teams, loose hope in playing for their 1st team. All because of the foreign players, who seem to stand out and perform on the pitch?


The PSL tried to reduce the amount of foreign players to 5 players per club, but the issue has not been sorted. Many young players show the potential of doing well, but without any game time their careers are at stake.


Maybe for these clubs it’s just business as usual or as they’re doing what we call “cheap labour”. They buy a foreign player for very low amount, he performs, and then they sell him for a high and ridiculous amount. So is it really all about winning or making money at the end?

That’s another article for another day.

There are a whole lot of debatable issues in this article. Maybe the foreign players put in more work ethic in the game than our South African players.
Maybe the young players need to step up
and forget about their pay cheque’s .
Maybe these foreign players actually give the PSL a good name. But the fact is they’re doing well and their giving the fans their moneys worth.

Whats happening with Teko

Teko Modise, the 2005-2006 Mvela Gloden League player of the season, 2008-2009 PSL Footballer of the year and the Cosafa Cup Player of the Tournament in 2007, is looking terrible this season.

Teko Modise has been a life saver for the both national team and Orlando Pirates by creating unbelievable chances for strikers and giving the fans their money’s worth at the same time. We South Africans love the” Shibobos” the “Tsamayas”, the “Magic rights” and seeing a player who works hard on the pitch to create chances and still entertain us has been great and it has been Teko-the General.

Today, what more can we say about the General. He is getting booed game after game and his confidence on the pitch has really gone down. Before Teko was part and parcel of Orlando Pirates and we always knew that Teko will be in the starting as no one could take his position.

Today, he comes on as a substitute and is competing for position on the wings, with the speedy Segolela and the basic and accurate Klate; Before Teko used to the engine of Orlando Pirates.

Many may wonder what has gone wrong, whether it’s the money that seems to heavy in his pockets or is it the Range Rover, Audi TT, BMW 6 series and the recent Aston Martin that he has been driving around the streets? After all this is a man worth R8 Million.

No one knows how they can help Teko and if they can. My advice for Teko is to forget the cars the money and the next place he should put his tattoo .He should just focus being the great soccer player that he used to be. He is turning 28 in December and time is running out…

My new blog

This is all about the biggest sport in the world...Soccer...I have a whole lot of things in my mind and would like to share it with the world...

I am a proud South African and the blogging mostly going to be about South African soccer, the players the coaches, the teams the fans the money that goes in and how we ordinary people view our players and teams.

This blog is also to broadcast the fans voice as they are the real soccer annalists , the real commentators and at times the real coaches, they just don't have have control.

This blog is for all soccer lovers, and it is going to be critical as we expect more from our players...

Every 2 weeks enjoy the post and the tweets about whats happening the real stories behind the soccer ball and goal post and the player...

Enjoy...

Omatlapeng