 Posted on 05 February 2010 - 11:38 THE LEAGUE RACE
The scramble to hit the ribbon at the finishing line of the race towards the league’s championship began in earnest on Tuesday and duly presented interesting outcomes on the matches played.
Interestingly, the leading trio did not register maximum points; an unfortunate feat that clearly reflected on the intensity of the last lap in the gruelling and tightly pressured marathon.
Except for Amazulu’s win against their neighbouring Golden Arrows, and Ajax’s scalping of Platinum Stars, no other match recorded outright victories during mid-week encounters that kick-started the end of the 2009/10 season. The 18 points on offer have proven difficult to claim, with teams drawing from their last reserves to out-fox each other.
Relegation-threatened clubs are putting up a fierce battle to stay in the Premier League and may thus prove dangerous to those vying for honours. The middle pack are also scraping to gain an opportunity to contest the lucrative MTN 8, while the R10 million worth of the Premiership title is too tantalising for the leaders to just let slip.
These ingredients are just perfect to turn the last matches into an exciting nail-biting photo-finish that will quench the football-hungry nation after a much subdued and disappointing month of the Africa Cup of Nations. Interestingly, the timing of the start of the last lap coincides with the euphoria of the second day of the month of February 1990, when a groundbreaking parliamentary announcement to release the colossal Nelson Mandela turned the course of history in our country.
MOROKA SWALLOWS
As for us at Kaizer Chiefs, a win against a determined Moroka Swallows would have been the perfect cherry on top start to our 40 years of celebration, just to add to the drama of the season. Unfortunately, in a match characterised by missed chances and a downright absence of luck, the three points that would have exerted consternation on SuperSport evaporated into thin air.
After numerous attempts at goals, with Moroka Swallows offering not much resistance, especially in the second half, one would have been kept at the edge of seat to anticipate a clean win, but again fate determined otherwise.
JOMO COSMOS AND GOLDEN ARROWS
Despite our misfortune, we can still redeem our chances against Jomo Cosmos, whom we will host at the Loftus Stadium in Tshwane in a match that will pose a huge challenge as well. Known for their uncompromising defensive tactics and their hunger to steer out of the relegation zone by revenging their first round loss, Cosmos will throw everything at us just to derail our course.
A win on Saturday will therefore cream our chances, while anything to the contrary will scupper yet another opportunity to lift the trophy as a perfect gift for our 40th year celebrations. I believe that our lads will find rhythm and zeal to fight to the finish since there are 15 points to contest for, with next Wednesday’s away match encounter against Golden Arrows proving yet another mountain to climb. They have already suffered defeat at the hands of Amazulu and may just be an absolute hindrance to our strides.
THE AFRICA CUP OF NATIONS
The treatment meted out to Togo by the insensitive and cruel Confederation of African Football (CAF) is indeed a lamentable exposé of the nature of the organisation.
While a lot of condemnation has been expressed on the callousness of the attackers, we should not look any further but question the judgement of theCAF immediately after the drama and their subsequent two-year suspension of the Togolese nation from the continental competition.
In tapping my African roots, failure to grant Togo an opportunity to mourn its deceased and the insistence that it honour the competition while reeling from the shock was a serious display of arrogance.
I believe it could have been human to at least allow Togo the benefit of participating after three days of mourning and burials, considering the expensive and dramatic route it took to qualify for the African spectacle. I also believe they needed the platform to redeem their dramatic exit from the 2010 World Cup, but all these were denied in the chambers of the CAF; a decision that reminded me of their treatment when they banned Kaizer Chiefs from the African Championship competition in Madagascar.
You will recall that the island was under a political and military siege and the travel logistics were just too impossible to risk, but the CAF imposed a serious fine by suspending and banishing us from continental competition. I therefore remain unsurprised by their treatment of Togo but only hope for a change of heart in handling serious matters, particularly when any act of violence claims or threatens the lives of players, officials, and spectators at any given competition.
Be that as it may, we shall continue to enjoy the nature of our beloved sport and hope that the incumbent 2010 Fifa World Cup dawns on our shores to unify and heal the ailing nations of the world.
Kaizer Motaung (Mr)
Executive Director | 
