Editor's Column - Clint Roper
By the time you read this column, Bafana would have played their second leg game against Angola and I'm quite confident that we should have secured very comfortable passage to the next phase of World Cup qualifying. Even without the service of Andile Jali and Anele Ngcongca, we should have enough quality to finish the job. To emphasise this, the fact that a player like Thulani Serero – a player who would be the first name on my team sheet were I coaching Bafana – is on the bench speaks volumes about the depth in our squad, and also a lot about the way Shakes Mashaba selects his starting eleven. I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised by our lads in the first away leg against Angola. To be honest, at first I was shocked at how easily Angola were able to turn defence into attack and score against us in the opening stanza of the game, but then proudly amazed at the character and determination to fight back and win so resoundingly in this tricky fixture. If you read last week's Editor's Column, you would have seen that I said that this match against Angola was probably our most important in a long time. I mentioned that a positive result could go a long way to resurrecting the country's belief in Bafana and once again instilling hope in the soccer lovers of our nation. Credit where it is due, I think Shakes and the lads did just that. That said, I was not as confident in the lead-up to the game. On the day of the Bafana game, I sent a tweet out that quite a number of Orlando Pirates fans appreciated but, for obvious reasons, a number of fans of other PSL clubs did not. I tweeted: "Sometimes I wish Shakes would just take the @Orlando_Pirates team to represent Bafana. They seem to be the only ones able to do it in Africa." I tweeted that because, looking at how our local PSL teams have done in continental competition over the last couple of years, it is not a pretty picture. In my opinion, there is really just one South African club that has flown our flag proudly on the continent, and that is Orlando Pirates. Which is why, as much as I'm behind Bafana's World Cup qualifying campaign, I'm almost more excited about Orlando Pirates, who will be playing in the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup final against Etoile du Sahel this weekend. Now, a lot of people have said that this is not a big deal and that if it's not the CAF Champions League, it's not worth the effort watching and supporting Pirates. This couldn't be further from the truth. If Pirates win this competition, then they will automatically qualify for the next Champions League, meaning we will have all of our 'Big Three' in the next edition of the continent's premier tournament, and that can only mean good things for South African soccer. To Orlando Pirates players, staff and management – congratulations on getting this far. Now go and finish the job. We are all behind you! Staying with Orlando Pirates, but now moving to two former employees of the club, Benni McCarthy and Chris O'Loughlin, it's great news to see they have signed the talented May Mahlangu. No doubt the Belgian Pro League outfit Sint-Truidense VV will benefit from having the talented playmaker in their team. It also means Bafana will now have the opportunity to select, in my opinion, South Africa's best player when he is fully fit. Good luck to Mahlangu and may he thrive under two South African coaches in Belgium. That a South African player can sign for a European club and work under two South African coaches is in itself extraordinary and makes this an exciting merger. Finally, I hope you are all ready for the biggest club game in world soccer when Barcelona goes up against Real Madrid this weekend. Whatever your league of choice, nobody can ignore it when two of the most talented teams in the world go head to head. It should be a celebration of beautiful, highly competitive and passionate football, so make sure you don't miss this one. If for some reason you can't watch it live, remember to head to www.snl24.com/soccerladuma and check into our Match Centre to get a minute-by minute-update of the game as it happens. It's a buffet of football this week guys – go out and feast on it! Shapa Clint
