Dikgacoi victim No 4 for Bafana

Bafana Bafana have completed their preparations ahead of tonight’s friendly international match against Burkina Faso at the Ellis Park Stadium, but not without yet another setback.

Pitso Mosimane has revealed they will have to also make do without Kagisho Dikgacoi for the match after the midfielder could not resolve his work-permit and visa challenges on time and was stuck in England.

“We have to accept he will not be here; it’s one thing that is beyond his control, my control or anyone’s control for that matter. It would have been great to have him in this squad, but we have to go out there and play the match knowing he is not,” Mosimane says.

Dikgacoi’s absence means that Mosimane will now be minus four key players: Belgium-based defender Anele Ngcongca suffered an Achilles tendon injury during a League game for Racing Genk at the weekend, while Reneilwe Letsholonyane and Steven Pienaar are also out injured.

However, Bafana will welcome the return of Bongani Khumalo, Thulani Serero and Thanduyise Khuboni – the trio missed South Africa’s last match against Egypt in June.

“It’s a tough game for us, and also very important as we are preparing for Niger. Given a chance, yes ... I would love to play, but I will leave that to the coach. We have studied our opponents and we know what to expect, so we are ready,” Serero says.

“If we play our normal match and not rush things or panic, then we should be able to get a positive result. I have put in a lot of work since my injury and I am confident that I am back to my fitness,” Khuboni adds.

Mbuyane – A welcome change from the boos

Orlando Pirates striker Thulasizwe Mbuyane says the support he has received so far from The Ghost is refreshing, and a nice shift from the boos he has received from the same fans in previous matches.

Mbuyane, who is one of the players that have received votes to play in this Saturday’s Carling Black Label Cup against Kaizer Chiefs, has asked the club’s fans to continue voting him into the final team.

“With the votes I have received from the fans, I can only be grateful that they have shown faith in me and it puts me a little bit at ease in terms of being booed,” says Mbuyane, who has often risen to the occasion for Bucs in big clashes, including scoring a last-gasp equaliser in the second Soweto League Derby last season.

“The support I have received so far shows that the fans have faith, trust and belief in me as a player that I can go out there and fight for the team. Everyone wants to be in the team on Saturday and we are working very hard for the game, which we hope to win.

“This is one game that we must win because it will also help us prepare for the MTN8 trophy. I hope that I will make the final team that goes out there to fight for Orlando Pirates.”

Mbuyane says despite the fact that they will be meeting an Amakhosi side hell-bent on revenge following their 1-0 Vodacom Challenge defeat at the hands of the Bucs in Port Elizabeth last week, there is no pressure on Pirates’ players.

“We will go out there to express ourselves and enjoy the game in a winning way. We will give it our all,” ‘Juju’ adds.

The striker also admits that he will have his own personal goal ahead of the Soweto Derby.

“Competition for places is very tough at Orlando Pirates with the players we have and, once you are given a chance to play, you always want to make full use of it to continue playing.”

“Musona too good to be loaned out”

By Godfrey Mbedzi

“Musona too good to be loaned out”

Most PSL players when they leave for European league their chances of playing for the first team in Europe are slim as they get swooped or loaned out to the clubs they never signed up to but Musona is assured that he will be given time to grow.

“Musona is cleaver and good enough to establish himself and we will give him a year or half to grow in a team” says Hoffenheim’s sports director Ernst Tanner. “We usually play with three strikers and Musona is a type of player who can play in both three positions as he is flexible and that will real help him a lot” adds Ernst.  “We don’t have the type of Musona’s caliber, his quick, fit and his football technique are very good and to add more he is a natural goal scorer and we don’t have such players in our team right now”says Ernst Tanner says.

Knowledge Musona is officially a Hoffenheim player after signing a five-year deal today for undisclosed amount and it said that it is the highest deal that chiefs has ever had.

Bongani Khumalo, Kagiso “KG” Dikgacoi are few names that comes to mind when one think of the PSL players who goes to Europe to peruse their dreams only to be loaned out. What does this say about our players? Are they not being given enough chance? Or is it possible that they are not good enough to earn international stability? 

Bafana tickets on sale now

By Godfrey Mbedzi

Tickets for the friendly international match between Bafana Bafana and Burkina Faso are already on sale. Tickets are sold at fifty rand (R50) for the upper tier stands and one hundred rand (R100) for the lower tier stands and will be available at all Computicket outlets, Shoprite and Shoprite/Checkers stores around the country.

Bafana Bafana will face Burkina Faso on Wednesday, 10 August 2011 at the Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg. Kickoff is at 20h15.

South Africa head coach Pitso Mosimane will announce his squad at a press conference on Tuesday, 2 August 2011 at SAFA House, starting at 11h00.

Burkina Faso is expected in South Africa on Monday, 8 August 2011.

There are also VIP Hospitality Packages ranging from six hundred and fifty-five rand (R655) to one thousand four-hundred rand (R1400). For more information on the hospitality packages kind contact, Willie Geldenhuys, Susan Odendaal or Nokwazi Miya

Who is Andile Jali?

Full name:            :Andile Ernest Jali

Born:                    :10/4/90 in Matatiele

Source:                : AmaTuks

Debut:                  : African Warriors 2 University of Pretoria 0 (8/12/07)

First goal scored:   :University of Pretoria 2 Dynamos 1 (14/12/07)

Honours               : 7 international caps; 2010 MTN Cup winner; 2010/11 PSL Champions 2011 Nedbank Cup Winner 

Year    Clubs                                          Starts  Subs   Goals

07/08  University of Pretoria (Div 1)      9          +4 subs    1

08/09  University of Pretoria (Div 1)       17       +1 sub)     0

09/10  Orlando Pirates                             2                           0

Totals                                                          28                        1

Correct as at 26/7/11. League and cup matches. Charity games and friendlies not included.

Lewis lose out

Will not signing Lewis hammer Bloemfontein Celtic in the new season?

Bloemfontein Celtic Coach Clinton Larsen tells sportszone the real reason of not signing Lewis.

The former Kaizer Chiefs striker Stanton Lewis was snapped a place by Lethola Mofokeng to don Celtic jersey. Lewis spent three weeks on trails to together with Ace Bhengu, and Thabo Mongalo but Celtic could only sign one local striker because of the tight allocated budget for this coming season.

“Lewis impressed me a lot and I think he had a lot to offer, but I couldn’t sign him because of the tight budget that I have for this season” say Coach Clinton Lewis.  We had to sign Mofokeng Lethola as he did very well to convince us that he can deliver for the team and after a long thought we realized that our budget doesn’t allow us to sign Lewis hence we are expecting to make a measure signing in a form of two foreign strikers in due course” Says Larsen. Masibusane Zongo adds the list of players who failed to put pen on paper with Celtic after gone to trails for some days.

“We believe that we have quality and capable players who I think they will do well this season and make Celtic fans happy.” We can’t compete with the big three in terms of signing top players because they clearly have better budget than us, so we will just have to go with what we have and believe in our squad” he says. “Look last season we did very well and I still think we can even do better this time around” say Larsen       

By Godfrey Mbedzi