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16/05/2008 11:54
Tumo Mokone
The stage is set for the grand finale of the PSL league on Sunday. An added excitement to what has been dubbed "Super Sunday" is the fact that a brand new champion will be crowned.
Both pretenders to the crown - SuperSport United and Ajax Cape Town - are young clubs and neither is 20 years old yet. But in the short period of their existence, United and Ajax have shown the "old hats" what is meant by youth development.
Super Sunday will also settle a few issues with regards to whom certain PSL awards should be awarded during the year-end ceremony. The coaches of both SuperSport United and Ajax should be the leading contenders for the Coach of the Year award and many fans will concede that Gavin Hunt and Craig Roslee have worked very hard to put their teams where they are today.
There are a few ironies about the two coaches. They are young, in their early 40s, both Capetonian and are in their first season in charge of their respective teams.
Roslee took over the reigns at Ajax after the departure of Muhsin Ertugral and his assistant Ian Gorowa who joined Kaizer Chiefs and Moroka Swallows respectively. Roslee's appointment was a promotion in that he had been very successful as the club's Under-19 coach. Many of the youngsters who shone under Ertugral, were groomed by Roslee. It made sense that he should continue working with them at the highest level. The gamble has paid off handsomely. Ajax play an enterprising brand of football and sponsors have taken note, with MTN being first to sign a deal with Urban Warriors in March this year.
Better goal difference
In the final round of matches on Sunday, United are away to Bloemfontein Celtic while Ajax will be in Durban to meet Golden Arrows.
According to the league, the 'real' Premiership trophy will be in Bloemfontein, while a replica will be display at the King Zwelithini stadium. United only require a draw, while Ajax must win and hope United lose at Celtic. In the event of the latter being the case, then both teams will finish with 54 points and that will give Ajax the championship as they have a better goal difference. Ajax will then receive the 'real' trophy on Monday.
Sunday will also crown the league's top scorer. James Chamanga currently leads the charts with 14 goals, but the Zambian-born striker cannot add to his tally as he's already left Moroka Swallows. In fact Chamanga has not been playing for the Birds in the past months as his desire to seek new challenges first took him to Scandinavia. When he couldn't secure a contract in Sweden and Denmark he headed to China. He finally signed with Dalian Shide FC after a two-week trial with China's most successful football club.
Ironically, his former strike partner at Swallows, Sandile Ndlovu (11 goals), is one of four pretenders who may catch Chamanga. The closest chaser however is Diyo Sibisi of Free State Stars, with 12 goals. This means Ndlovu, Erwin Isaacs (Santos) and Katlego Mashego (SuperSport) will each need at least a hat-trick to be in the money. The race for the golden boot is therefore wide open.
PSL record
Also out to do battle on Sunday are Black Leopards and Thanda Royal Zulu FC, who are positioned 15th and 14th respectively. The bottom team, Jomo Cosmos, have already been relegated to the lower league, while the team which finishes second from the bottom will be part of a promotion/demotion playoff with three teams from the first division.
Thanda need just a draw against the already doomed Cosmos to avoid the tedious playoffs. And they may just get it as Cosmos, who have recorded 16 draws this season, need just one more to equal the all-time PSL record which is currently held by Santos.
The final day of the PSL season will also offer a moment to reflect on some of the failures of South African football. The major sore point is the continual failure of SA teams in the CAF Champions League. Last week both Mamelodi Sundowns and Platinum Stars were dumped out of the current competition in round three. This means no local team will be part of the draw for the mini-stage of Africa's premier inter-continental club tournament.
Granted, the fall of Sundowns and Stars in round three has earned them a place in the quarter-final draw of the second-tier CAF club tournament, the Confederation Cup. The players in both teams will continue to travel around the continent to honour their international fixtures, but the experience will not be the same as in the more lucrative Champions League.
Simply flawed
Another point of contention is the goal scoring form, or lack thereof, especially by South African-born players. Though the top scorer to date (Chamanga) has not been part of the action for a couple of matches, his chasers have failed to catch him. The situation is a repeat of what happened last year when another Zambian striker, Chris Katongo, left Jomo Cosmos in January 2007 for Denmark and yet the 15 goals he had by the halfway point of the season were enough to win the Golden Boot award.
This situation calls for a close self-inspection of how we train our strikers because the techniques shown by South African players is simply flawed. As I am writing this column, many PSL clubs are out searching for strikers all over Africa for next season. This effort is in acknowledgment of our failure which is also reflected in the national team set-up, where Benni McCarthy remains our only striker of international repute over the last 10 years.
A league championship victory either by SuperSport or Ajax will change the face of South African football forever. The event will usher in a new era in which reputation and history will mean nothing as clubs with a good plan, and resources to back it, will achieve success.
Tumo writes exclusively for Sport24.
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