NEWS
A selection of FirstTouch's best football writing, brought to you by emerging journalists, collaborators, and fans.
Nedbank Semi-Final Preview: Maritzburg United vs Mamelodi Sundowns
Maritzburg United vs Mamelodi Sundowns
The other finalist of this season’s Nedbank cup will be revealed on Sunday after the Team of Choice and the Brazilians go out at each other at the Harry Gwala Stadium. It’s literally the battle of the heavyweights as the two make up the top four of the 2017/18 campaign with the visitors, Sundowns, on the verge of capturing the PSL title. All they need is four points from a possible nine. Maritzburg United would be pleased with their campaign, sitting in third place and definitely have some momentum heading into this match having lost none of their last 10 matches in all competitions.
“It’s not an easy one, you play Maritzburg, I have never seen a team which has an effort like that. They have got lefts and they are awkward, you must analyze the way they play. Swear to god I have never seen a formation like this in my whole life, never, never. They play with two strikers outright. Everybody has their own software of playing. It’s very difficult.”
Who will be reminded of the taste of losing? Kick-off is at 1pm GMT.
Nedbank Semi-final Preview: Kaizer Chiefs vs Free State Stars
Kaizer Chiefs vs Free State Stars
All roads lead to Moses Mabhidha stadium on Saturday night. As the season draws to a close and becoming increasingly imminent that the Mamelodi boys would bag this campaign’s PSL title; everyone else is looking to put their hands on the next best thing. The Nedbank Cup is South Africa’s equivalent of the English FA Cup and the journey to the final resumes this weekend with Chief and FS Stars taking it onto the turf of Durban.
Amakhosi (Chiefs) are sitting on fourth place in the league, three points above the Ea Lla Koto (Stars) who are fifth. Chiefs fell out of the title race early on after a slow start and are desperately looking out to end the season with some silverware to console the Soweto fans. On the other hand, FS Stars are in the hunt for their first trophy since Coca-Cola Cup (now Telkom Knockout) success back in 1994. They have however enjoyed a stellar campaign, bound to wind up the league, nine places above their last season’s 14th place finish. It’s just that they have not been able to beat Chiefs in their last 10 league matches.
With the current FS Stars boss, Luc Eymael tipped to replace Steve Komphela at Chiefs - there could be much more at stake here. Kick-off time is 6:15 GMT.
Laos: FIFA fines the country’s football federation for sanctioning “player-trafficking”
Laos’ top club, Champasak United is reported to have illegally acquired 23 under-age players
The South East Asian country’s Football Federation has been slapped with a (USD) $700 000 fine for illegally acquiring African talent to abode in their shores. The 2015 BBC story on the illegal transfer of minors could have played a huge role in this development as it revealed some shocking scenarios of fourteen-year-olds playing football with no pay and forced to sleep on the floor of the club’s stadium.
Laos’ top club, Champasak United is reported to have illegally acquired 23 under-age players ( fourteen and fifteen-year-olds) from West Africa and putting them in an unregistered football academy in 2015. It is also understood that the club deployed some fourteen and fifteen-year-olds for official club matches.
In accordance with their regulation of forbidding players under the age of 18 to be transferred internationally without meeting established criteria, Fifa ruled that Laos had breached the rules.
DR Congo: Omari released from detention amid ongoing investigations
"Fifa is closely following the matter and gathering additional information but has no further statement to make at this stage.”
The president of the DR Congo Football Federation (Fecofa) who is also a member of the FIFA Council and second vice-president of the Confederation of African Football, Constant Omari Selemani has been released from custody. This follows after he was detained on Tuesday together with sports ministry secretary-general Barthelemy Okito and two Fecofa vice-presidents, Roger Bondembe and Theobad Binamungu over an inquiry into misuse of public funds in organizing Africa’s club and international matches.
The amount in question is up to (USD) $1m for four matches. Reacting to his release, Omari posted the following on his Twitter account:
"My sincere thanks to the real justice authorities who have finally realized that you cannot simply accuse officials based on lies, hatred, and jealousy."
Fifa have however highlighted that the case is not yet water under the bridge.
"Fifa is closely following the matter and gathering additional information but has no further statement to make at this stage.” - FIFA
World Cup Rush: Nigerian Football body wants $2m from FIFA
The Nigerian Football Federation looks to collect a bonus from FIFA
Reports suggest that the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) wrote a letter to FIFA, dated 9 April, requesting for $2 of their 2018 World Cup finals qualification bonus. All that countries that qualify for the world cup finals are awarded bonuses by the world’s football governing body.
In hopes to prevent any future protest by the national team as was the case in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the NFF and Super Eagles have already agreed on the salaries and match bonuses. The Super Eagles will also get 30% of the total prize money, should their walk away with the world cup gold.
Nigeria have been pitted against Messi’s Argentina, Croatia and the European surprise package, Iceland. Their opening match is on the 16th of June against Croatia.
Abroad: Kenyan international Aboud Omar fired by Bulgarian club
"I decided to remove Aboud Omar from the team and his contractual relations with the club will be suspended under the existing legal order."
Aboud Omar has been sacked by Slavia Sofia, accusing him of insulting the club, his teammates and the state of Bulgaria. The 25-year-old left back became the first Kenyan to play in the Bulgarian league in 2016 and quickly helped the team to qualify for the Europa League.
In a statement, the club mentioned that Omar had been malicious for months and they were unsure as to his motivations for the said behavior.
“I decided to remove Aboud Omar from the team and his contractual relations with the club will be suspended under the existing legal order. For no apparent reason, the player became cruel and arrogant.He learned the most vulgar phrases in Bulgarian and began to address them to his teammates without exception. The impudent Kenyan began to curse everything, related to life in our country and did not try to conceal his dislike for the Bulgarian state at all…”
Stefanov also mentioned that all the players of the seven-time Bulgarian champions unanimously backed his decision to relieve Omar of his duties. The Kenyan international is yet to comment on the issue.
South Africa: “Tau better than Salah and Mane” - El Hadji Diouf
"It only shows the good work that I and Sundowns do, and also how the coaches are helping us develop as players because we can easily be compared to European players.”
The former Liverpool and Senegal forward heaped praises on the quality of South African football, going further to single out Mamelodi Sundowns striker, Percy Tau. During Diouf’s visit to South Africa in his capacity as an ambassador of the Moroccan 2026 world cup bid, he also challenged South African footballers to get out of their comfort zone and aspire to play in European leagues.
In response to Diouf’s praises, the 23-year old Tau revealed that the former Blackburn man had previously expressed his views when they traveled to Senegal for their final World Cup 2018 qualifier.
“Look‚ I spoke to Diouf in Senegal, and he expressed his views on my game‚ and what he feels. So, I wasn’t surprised by what he said this week. It only shows the good work that I and Sundowns do, and also how the coaches are helping us develop as players because we can easily be compared to European players.”
The PSL joint top scorer with eleven league goals this campaign won the 2016 CAF Champions League with Sundowns and has since become a fan favorite at the club. He has distinguished himself as a striker who can race from deep, create chances, make assists and score goals. His coach Pitso Mosimane believes that he should unanimously win the 2017/18 PSL Player of the year. Tau is also determined to make Diouf proud.
“I hope one day he (Diouf) will be happy with what he said. I hope one day he’ll be proud that he said those words to this boy and look at him now.”
COSAFA: R1 Million ($84K) Boost for 2017 Women’s Championships
Will South Africa be able to repeat in this years COSAFA Tournament?
On Wednesday, Kwese sports handed over a prize money worth R1 Million ($ USD 84 000) to the 2017 COSAFA Women’s Championships, putting the competition on the same pedestal with that of the men’s competition.
This is definitely a positive step in the right direction for uplifting the women’s game in Southern Africa which is becoming even more popular. Hopefully, signals like these will act as calls to action for football bodies and other stakeholders informing them that the women’s game is worth investing in. South Africa are the defending champions of the region after beating Zimbabwe by two goals to one in last year’s finals.
World Cup Rush: Boost for Nigeria as Onyekuru returns from injury
"I have to prove that I'm able and worthy to go and play"
The Super Eagles’ attacking bluntness was exposed in their 2-0 loss to Serbia over the International break. The return of Everton’s Henry Onyekuru after a long spell on the sidelines, dating back to December 2017, will give Gernot Rohr a much needed headache in choosing who to put in his final 23 man squad for the FIFA world cup finals in June.
Onyekuru, 20, who is currently on loan at Belgian side, Anderlecht scored nine goals in 19 matches this season, making four appearances in the Uefa Champions League before his knee injury. In the prior to this one, Onyekuru found the back of the net, 22 times for Belgian side, Eupen which allowed for him to feature for the Super Eagles in their final world cup qualifying match against Algeria.
The young forward is ready to put shoulder to the wheel in the next two months for a place in Rohr’s charges.
“I have to prove that I’m able and worthy to go and play - once I do that - it’s up to the manager to select the team.”
Coach Rohr has also made it clear that the door is still open for any player to impress and earn their stripes.
“Coach Rohr says the World Cup door has not been shut against any player and is happy that Onyekuru is back.”
DR Congo: FA boss detained for embezzling funds
Could there be a correlation between the embezzlement and the player protests?
The President of the Democratic Republic of Congo Football Association, Constant Omari was taken into custody on Wednesday for allegedly embezzling public funds. Omari, who is also a member of the FIFA council and vice-president with the Confederations of African Football (CAF) was is being held together with the sports ministry secretary general and two vice-presidents of DR Congo Football Association (Fecofa).
The magistrate highlighted that the four men are “currently being heard” over how they used public funds in the organization of club and international matches on the African continent. The lawyer representing the four men mentioned that they were being questioned on the embezzled US $ 1 million meant for four matches.
What’s interesting is that the organizers of the Dr. Congo football league, Linafoot, have suspended activities in “solidarity” of the detained. This story comes a few weeks after we shared that of West Ham United’s Arthur Masuaku and two other teammates who left DR Congo citing poor management and planning by the national team.
Could there be a correlation?
Feature: Why are people so crazy about football?
Why do we all love the game as much as we do?
The "Crazed" Fan
Citizens of the earth who are outside of the football fraternity look on the players of the game and the fans that back them with bewilderment, amazement and more often than not, with a little bit of envy. They ask; how could a grown-up man cry over a loss of a team which does not even know they exist or shares bit of the income when they triumph? Some ponder on whether these fans do not have anything better to do with their time instead of committing emotions, money and everything else to brave the cold winter nights to sit in the stands and shout “You will never walk alone!” in Merseyside, “Ka bo Yellow Masandawana!” in Pretoria or “DeMbare bhora” in neighboring Zimbabwe. Perhaps sharing the way I see the game could go along way in answering some of those questions. So here goes!
We see ourselves in the character of the teams we support
Have you ever wondered why someone would consider themselves die-hard Arsenal fans since 2005 and yet they have never the chance to witness their Gooner heroes lift any major trophy or accolades since then? At times the passion and zeal to commit to a certain team transcend just the obvious reasons of saying for instance, “I like Messi and henceforth I am a Barca fan” or that my favorite color is blue, so I support Zimbabwe’s Dynamos football club. Football clubs all around the world have characters and ‘personalities’ which radiate to the fans of the game. These fans are able to somehow discern these characters and end up subconsciously liking and choosing to support particular teams. It’s like falling in love where at times it goes deeper rather than liking someone for their physical attributes. So yes, its much more than who wins the biggest trophies or attracts the most talented footballers - the connection is engraved deep in the souls of those who love the game and are stewards of it.
Let me make it a bit more concrete. If you take a poll, you will probably realize that Manchester City fans are generally less outspoken than Manchester United fans; Arsenal fans may be more conservative and detail oriented than Chelsea fans who could generally be adventurous while maintaining that the end will always justify the means. The contrasting football philosophies could, for example, help to identify the undertones. Arsenal, more so under Arsene Wenger, cares more about keeping their attractive style of play and can keep a single manager for more than twenty years. On the other hand, most recently, Chelsea tend to have a new manager in every two seasons with different styles of play being employed and it doesn’t really matter if it helps them win trophies (the end justifies the means). Even in different parts of the world, the same construct still applies. The Soweto giants, Kaizer Chiefs, and Orlando Pirates are loved by their faithfuls for their strong culture of community and giving power to the people as is the case in the townships they come from. For some Soweto derbies, fans were given the chance to vote for how their teams would line up. Even the excessive showboating these two teams usually show is never despised irrespective of the match results. Its because the fans also grew up playing Kasi football (almost literally more about dribbling than goals) in the streets whilst listening to loud house music. There were never 4-4-2 tactics, or any mechanical formations to grind results when they played on the streets but just fun and nutmeg contests. Henceforth when they showboat, fans get more than just entertainment but identify themselves with the team. Clubs like England’s Everton have been dubbed a “working class” club showing just how much the love of a team by a fan goes beyond the colors but deep into their core values and lifestyle.
It’s simply fun
Living life on the edge can be thrilling especially if the adverse effects are less deteriorating. For every match that is played, football offers ninety minutes of uncertainty, adrenaline rush, laughter tears and a whole lot more. For every goal woodwork that is rattled, seats are deserted, jaws dropped and the near joy of what could have been, is revered and anticipated. For every goal that is scored, nations are united in celebrations and fans temporarily forget their religion, race, gender or creed and celebrate together as human beings without restrictions.
There are also those who assume the roles of artists on the pitch, picking out teammates intuitively like Mesut Ozil, riding invisible bicycles in scoring wonder goals like Cristiano Ronaldo, nutmegging opponents at will as Messi does and supermaning effortlessly to stop shots as is the case Marc-Andre Ter Stergen. Even the bizarre incidents of the likes of Luis Suarez turning out to be Vampire diaries actors or Asamoah Gyan and his Black Stars teammates switching from professional football to showbiz with funky haircuts and moves like Michael Jackson’s to celebrate goals.
And it is more than a football game
When fans gather to commute for long hours to back their heroes, wear cabbage leaves on their heads to support the green machine, CAPS United of Zimbabwe or obscure themselves by painting their bodies in national colors as West Africans do - it’s more than just supporting a team. It is an opportunity for friends to relax having a couple of drinks and catching up on life, a chance to pause from the stresses of everyday life, the privilege to influence the destiny of a people by cheering on the national team and more often than not, a golden chance to bag bragging rights. Most people really enjoy it when they are right about anything, there is no better way to show your friend that they are wrong other than having your team crush theirs.
Why are you still not watching football? What are you waiting for?
Lallana goes to Africa for rehab
Will Lallana be fit enough to cause a selection problem for Southgate?
For so long, Africa has been at the backseat. People aspired to go abroad for the best facilities in healthcare, sports, only to mention but a few. Today, we see the tables turning. This is thanks to Adam Lallana’s decision to fly to South Africa to get treatment and rehab after suffering another hamstring injury. The Liverpool midfielder has been named Klopp’s workhorse for his tireless pressing during the first campaign of the Liverpool boss. The player has since suffered from recurring injuries which have kept him out of the squad and have seen the club pretty much brought in a replacement in Oxlade-Chamberlain who joined from Arsenal. Lallana returned this season but his last match was against Crystal Palace in March in which he only played for 5 minutes. An international player from England has left not only his country but his continent, Europe, to come to Africa for his rehab as confirmed by Liverpool Echo.
This is a sign that Africa is rising and is not far behind as everyone anticipated. Lallana is believed to be using the facilities at Sports Science Institute in Cape Town, South Africa. His manager Jurgen Klopp confirmed that the player’s setback was very serious hence he required the best attention in a race against time to make it to the England squad that will fly to Russia for this year’s World Cup tournament. The player has made just 13 appearances this season and it would be a very big call by Southgate if he decides to pick him ahead of other players who have played more games this season. We wish the best for Lallana in his recovery and hope he will spread the word of how good the continent has been to him.
PSL South Africa: Sundowns edge closer to title after edging Golden Arrows
Mamelodi Sundowns could have secure their third PSL title in five years
Time seems to be delaying the inevitable as far as the South African Premier Soccer League title is concerned. Title favorites, Mamelodi Sundowns saw off Golden Arrows 1-0 at Loftus Versfeld Stadium. The Brazilians are now six points clear of second placed Orlando Pirates with only three matches left to play. Bafana baStyle’s superior goal difference of 12 mean that if they can grind out one more win, they certainly will become champions, yet again - to make it a record 8 PSL titles and the third one in 5 years.
The Brazilians had to score from the penalty spot in the 24th minute after a thoroughly entertaining first half which saw the woodwork doing all the work for the visitors, Golden Arrows. Pitso Mosimane named an unchanged line-up from the 2-0 win over Bidvest Wits with the trio of Themba Zwane, Percy Tau and Sibusiso Vilakazi leading the charges and causing all sorts of problems for the Abafana Bes'thende. Uruguay’s Gaston Sirino was the first to beat goalkeeper Mbaeva after showing some composure inside the Arrows box only to have his shot rattled by the cross bar. Vilakazi was then brought down inside the box by Mathiane which Ricardo Nascimento converted for the Tswane boys. Even after half time, Sundowns were pretty much in control, playing enterprise football full of trickery. Arrows goalkeeper had to pull off some heroic saves to keep the match at 1-0.
Zimbabwe vs Botswana: A rare match to celebrate Zim’s 38th independence
The Southern African country is expected to have several other festivities at the National Sports Stadium in Harare.
Zimbabwe celebrates independence day on the 18th of April every year and this time, an international mouthwatering clash between the Warriors and neighbors, Zebras is on the menu. Despite the fact that the match falls out of FIFA’s calendar for internationals, they got approval and it’s being labeled the President’s Cup tie.
The Southern African country is expected to have several other festivities at the National Sports Stadium in Harare. The activities include the lighting of the independence day flame, parades of the police and army, colorful displays by drum majorettes and all being capped off by the Warriors-Zebras clash which is expected to be available to fans for free. The coaches could only name local-based players for the squad and they have indeed picked up the best of the bunch from their respective countries.
The Zimbabwean gaffer, Sunday “Mhofu” Chidzambwa would ideally be using this match to widen his selection options for the COSAFA Castle Cup scheduled for next month. The Zebras’ David Bright called up most of the players that featured in their 1-0 victory over Lesotho, two weeks ago. The two countries last faced off in 2013 and Zimbabwe who is ranked 108, 41 places above Botswana by FIFA are expected to come out on top.
World Cup Rush: Lauren believes history will repeat itself for African teams
"To be honest with you I can't see any of them go further than the quarter-finals."
Former Arsenal and Cameroonian international, Lauren has assessed Africa’s world cup chances and came to a conclusion that there can be no light at the end of the tunnel. Lauren believes that amongst Egypt, Nigeria, Senegal, Morocco, and Tunisia - none of them will get past the last eight. The former defender believes that the management of African teams and the football culture as a whole needs some “structural” changes if performance on the global stage is to improve. He is also convinced his experiences have positioned him to add value to the footballing world.
“To be honest with you I can’t see any of them go further than the quarter-finals. This is my honest opinion because we are still one step behind the top teams. I don’t like to lie to people. I am very honest, I speak my mind because we don’t do things the right way.It happens in football, it happens in so many other African societies. But maybe I will try to help African football with the knowledge I have got about business and how to do things in a structural way”
Lauren represented Cameroon at the world cup finals in France 1998 and Japan/South Korea 2002. To date, the best performers from Africa have only managed to go as far as the quarter-finals. Cameroon first achieved the feat in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and most recently, Ghana in 2010.
FIFA World Cup 2026 Bids: Will Morocco’s homosexuality ban stop their World Cup progress?
What effect do you think this report has on Morocco’s chances to land this bid?
Even though after getting South Africa’s unqualified backing as well as support from a host of countries in their 207 member states, the North African country’s bid to host the 2026 world cup might be in jeopardy. Unlike the Russia 2018 and Qatar 2022, bidders for the 2026 world cup were required to frank risk assessments as well as commission independent human rights reports. A FIFA task force has been recently deployed into Morocco to inspect the extent of the law that states that homosexuality is a criminal offense in the country guaranteeing six months to three years in Prison.
“Under the new nondiscrimination requirements under FIFA’s statutes and under the Human Rights Policy, one of the red lines is anti-gay activity laws or policies. Morocco, if they’re serious about winning, would need to be prepared to repeal the article of the penal code which punishes people for being gay.”
Unlike USA-Canada-Mexico, According to ESPN, Morocco had refused to acknowledge the anti-LGBTQ law as a risk and provide a remedy in their 483 paged document.
“Morocco’s human rights report presented to the FIFA is an intentional silence on an issue that Morocco knows too well is a crime on its soil.”
In August 2017, Morocco rejected recommendations from the United Nations to decriminalize same-sex relations and shun violence against the LGBTQ community.
“Article 1 of the Constitution highlights the special framework of the federative constants of the Moroccan nation, namely, the moderate Muslim religion, national unity with its multiple components, constitutional monarchy and the democratic choice. Thus, the Kingdom does not accept these recommendations since they are in contradiction with the above-mentioned federative constants.”
One of the members of the Moroccan bid team, a human rights board member maintained that Morocco could have values different from FIFA or some societies would be vigilant in welcoming visitors intolerance and kindness.
“I don’t think that [ban on homosexuality] will be an issue because organising a World Cup is mainly about infrastructure, being passionate about football, and the ability to organize a safe World Cup. We have our laws and we have our values and maybe FIFA also have their values. We may have some differences but we just need to have the ability to respect the differences and to be tolerant.”
What effect do you think this report has on Morocco’s chances to land this bid?
CECAFA Tournament: Zanzibar shown the door for age-fixing
"Zanzibar presented nine players over the age limit for their intended opening Group B match against Sudan on Sunday."
The U-17 East African soccer tournament sponsored FIFA kicked off in Burundi and the word drama could just about sum up the experiences so far. The Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) has expelled Zanzibar for fielding nine players born before 2002 for their intended opening match against Sudan. Zanzibar was fined (USD) $15 000 which is almost equal to their budget for air tickets, accommodation, and meals.
Ethiopia’s team was also fined (USD) $5 000 for fielding three over-age players and had their 3-1 victory over Somalia forfeited to a 3 - 0 defeat. The Cecafa committee also recommended that only the three Ethiopian players in question be expelled from the tournament. These changes mean that only 7 teams are now participating in the ongoing tournament with Uganda, Tanzania and Sudan occupying group B whilst Ethiopia, Kenya, Burundi and Somalia make up the group A crew. Kenya had a flying start beating hosts, Burundi by 4 - 0 while Uganda and Tanzania played to a 1-1 draw. Kenya will qualify for the semi-finals should they beat Ethiopia in their next match.
“Zanzibar presented nine players over the age limit for their intended opening Group B match against Sudan on Sunday. The match was not played and the organizing committee found that only 12 players in total were born before 2002 as required by the rules.”
PSL South Africa: Pirates coach reveals focus as title chances fade away
"We are only thinking about the next match. We’ve no right to talk about anything else."
The Sea Robbers boss, Milutin Sredojevic has revealed that the club has met their 2017/18 season goals adding that their priority is now securing CAF Champions League automatic qualification. Orlando Pirates continued their unbeaten run by beating AmaZulu 2-1 on Sunday, reducing the gap between themselves and table-topping Sundowns to just 3 points who happen to have a game in hand. With three matches left for Pirates and Sundowns needing just 6 points from possible 12 to win the PSL title, it is almost game over for Pirates. Next up, the Buccaneers face the challenge of Bidvest Wits who are the latest victims of Bafana BaStyle’s predatory season. Mamelodi Sundowns capitalized on Wits’ mistake over the weekend to claim a comfortable 2-0 victory with Sibusiso Vilakazi and Themba Zwane getting on the scoresheet while Percy Tau was at the center of the slick build ups that led to the goals.
Amabhakabhaka are seven points ahead of third and fourth-placed Maritzburg United and fellow Sowetonians, Kaizer Chiefs. A win against the Clever Boys will secure second place and ensure they feature in next year’s continental showpiece, the CAF Champions League.
“We shall see. We are only thinking about the next match. We’ve no right to talk about anything else. So this is the target we are looking to achieve and stability in building the team to make supporters happy by playing good football. Next match is for the CAF Champions League.”