Kick Off June 2022

Watching Premier Soccer League matches played at empty stadiums has been disappointing to say the least considering that finally, after two years, supporters are allowed to attend games. For midweek matches that are played in the afternoon when people are still at work and students at school, it is understandable when there are no fans at the stadiums. But on weekends, there are no excuses at all, especially at this time of the season where teams are fighting for top eight places, CAF Champions League and CAF Confederations Cup spots, as well as battling against relegation. The attendance has been totally dismal, and this is something that the PSL and the clubs should be concerned about. In the last two years we were all locked inside our homes to curb…

KICK OFF To air your views, email your letters to forum@kickoff.com The views expressed in the letters published do not reflect the views of KICK OFF magazine, its editor or publisher. The editor reserves the right to edit and shorten letters. Letters shorter than 200 words will be given preference. Please note there are no prizes for star letters at this time. African football is stagnant The more I watch African football, the more I realise the game isn’t improving on the continent. If anything, the sport seems to be regressing. The CAF Confederation Cup quarterfinal match between Orlando Pirates and Simba from Tanzania at Orlando Stadium is a perfect example. Officiating in CAF matches simply doesn’t improve. The Video Assistant Referee [VAR] hasn’t improved the standard of refereeing in…

Benni deserved better To this day I still wonder what more Benni McCarthy could have done to keep his job at AmaZulu. I mean, this is a team he found languishing in the bottom half of the league table when he was appointed in December 2020. They went on to contend for the title and ultimately finished second, while recording the most points in their club’s history. That was enough to earn him the coveted honour of PSL Coach of the Year, which subsequently placed him on SAFA’s radar as the next Bafana Bafana gaffer. He further led AmaZulu to their inaugural continental participation in the CAF Champions League and got them to the group stages. So to be dismissed with just seven games remaining and being out of the top…

GOOD MONTH FOR … BONGOKUHLE HLONGWANE The Bafana Bafana winger has quickly worked his way into the starting XI at Major League Soccer side Minnesota United with some excellent displays that have earned him big praise. BAD MONTH FOR … JOMO SONO Jomo Cosmos are relegated from the GladAfrica Championship after almost 40 years as a team in the professional ranks of South African football. They will be joined in the amateur ABC Motsepe League by TS Sporting next season. ALSO LAST MONTH… • Mamelodi Sundowns are crowned 2021/22 DStv Premiership champions for an unprecedented fifth season in a row. They drew 0-0 with Cape Town City to get them over the line with four games remaining. • Kaizer Chiefs announce the departure of Stuart Baxter as coach, ending his…

KICK OFF: Neo, congratulations for winning the league title in your first season at Mamelodi Sundowns. How does is it feel? Neo Maema: It’s a great feeling to win the league with Sundowns, especially considering the fact that I have always wanted to win it. I’m very happy that I tasted my first title at Sundowns. I have no words and it’s a feeling that I cannot explain. With the amount of work that we have put in … we had targets to win the league and other cup competitions as well. I didn’t expect it to happen so soon but I’m happy it did. What were you aiming to achieve when you joined Sundowns because it’s not an easy side to break into considering the amount quality players around?…

As a club which boasts a proud record of 93 trophies in 52 years, pre-dating the PSL era, Kaizer Chiefs’ lack of silverware in recent seasons has been a source of great consternation for the Amakhosi faithful. The club last added to their trophy cabinet during the 2014/15 campaign when a Stuart Baxter-led side won the MTN 8 and league double, adding to the Nedbank Cup and league titles they had won two seasons before. Baxter departed in 2015 and since his exit the Soweto giants have gone seven years without claiming any additional silverware. His successor, Steve Komphela, lasted just shy of three seasons without success before Giovanni Solinas took charge in a brief, yet ill-fated, spell. Ernst Middendorp then assumed control and narrowly missed out on the Nedbank…