I'm writing this blog because I'd like to counter what my editor, Clint, wrote in his piece last week…
Read Clint Roper's Editor's Column: I Hope Man City Try To Honour Madiba
Former English Premier League champions, Manchester City, have now left South Africa's shores. They came, they saw, they were conquered, but the crucial point is that they really won't care.
Look, I'm taking nothing away from the PSL or South African football, but City came to Mzansi to get a run around and 'open up the legs and lungs' as Joleon Lescott told me.
Having asked a couple of questions to a handful of the Man City boys at the Nike Training Centre in Soweto before the SuperSport game, Micah Richards must have noted my accent and tapped me on the shoulder to ask, "Who are we playing on Sunday? Are they any good?"
For me, that pretty much sums it up. No doubt the players of SuperSport, and AmaZulu for that matter, have been looking forward to the games against City since they were announced. The guys will have been looking forward to playing against some of the best players in the world and planning ways to overcome them.
The Citizens however were looking forward to visiting South Africa, celebrating Nelson Mandela's birthday, fulfilling some nice PR opportunities and seeing a few new sights.
James Milner, also a Yorkshire lad like myself, admitted during a brief chat that he didn't know much about the teams they were playing and weren't even too bothered about the result, it's just about gaining some fitness and not getting injured.
After the SuperSport game at Loftus I tweeted saying,
"The big difference here:
Massively meaningful win for SSU...
Massively meaningless defeat for MCFC..."
I stick by that tweet, these two wins are brilliant for SuperSport and AmaZulu, brilliant for South African football in general and will attract deserved attention to the two outfits, but to City it's just another game. They will just have been happy to be involved in Madiba's 95th birthday and come out of it injury free.
The only time any of the City players went into a tackle was if it was a 30/70 challenge in their favour, they weren't going for 50/50s, why would they? They have much more important things to prepare for.
The South African teams had everything to play for. They were playing against many of their role models, heroes maybe, and understandably wanted to leave their mark, wanted to win.
Think of it this way, how many of the SuperSport and AmaZulu players will remember with delight the day they beat Manchester City? How many of Manchester City's players will rue the days they lost to two South African teams they've probably never heard of. Catch my drift?
As I said, take nothing away from either of the South African teams. They went out and did South Africa and Madiba proud, unfortunately to their opponents the results aren't even ones that they'll remember… City couldn't even fill the stadiums anyway.
Yours in football, Joe
Soccer-Laduma journalist
Follow Joe on Twitter: @YesWeCrann
