Why the Telkom KO showdown between Sundowns and Celtic on December 1 HAS to be the Teko Modise final

Cup jinx: Teko Modise, 29, has yet to win a major trophy

AFTER two enthralling semis there is only one way to tag the Telkom Knock-out showdown on December 1 between miraculous Mamelodi Sundowns and blooming Bloemfontein Celtic: it’s the Teko Modise final.

On Saturday night, Msandawana defied their status as the PSL’s worst side this season, holding off Gavin Hunt’s bus-parking, bar-busting SuperSport United 1-0 in Polokwane.

The Peter Mokaba Stadium was treated to a cup tie of the highest order as Johan Neeskens prowled the touchline knowing that, despite his legendary Dutch pedigree, he should have left Chloorkop weeks ago.

After just 15 minutes, the enigmatic Eleazar Rodgers, picked up by Sundowns when Santos were relegated last year, latched on to the end of the improving Anthony Laffor’s cross to score the only goal of the game.

From there on in, it was a case of draw-specialist Hunt – with a win, a loss and eight wins in the PSL – trying to unpark his bus and find a route to an equaliser against relegation-haunted opposition.

It so nearly came in the dying moments with SuperSport hitting the bar and having a penalty appeal turned down, but a relieved Neeskens said afterwards: “I must give my boys a big compliment, I think they deserved it. We saw an exciting game with both teams competitive. They have only lost one game in the league.

“In the second half they put more people upfront, so it was difficult to defend - they were unlucky to hit the crossbar. I think it is a terrific result and it will give everybody a boost.”

The bustling ball of energy which is Hunt was predictably less enthusiastic: “I’m disappointed not to reach the final,” he growled, “Decisions haven’t been going for us lately. We came so close, we should have had a penalty.

“It was an exciting semi-final. But we have to pick ourselves up now and get on with it.”

If Polokwane was exciting, the Charles Mopeli Stadium in Qua-Qua was soon renamed Kwaaa-Kwaaa as local rivals Bloemfontein Celtic took the lead twice in normal time (Letladi Madubanya and sub Lerato Manzini) only for Free State stars to peg them back with two well taken goals from Dove Wome.

In the end, it was the irrepressible Botswana striker Joel Mogorosi who decided the match in extra-time, his long-range header just beaten the out-stretched arms of Zambia’s AFCON winning goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene in the Stars goal.

Mweene, injured when teenagers stoned the Zambia bus after their midweek 1-0 win over Bafana Bafana at Soccer City, said: "I was fit. Luckily I was not too badly hurt. They were only youngsters, but these things should not happen. Thank God it wasn't serious. But I was ready to play and I'm disappointed not to make the final."

With head coach Clinton Larsen banned after his red card against Maritzburg United, Boebie Solomons took the post-match plaudits for Celtic, beaming: “They kept coming back at us but we never gave up. They equalised twice but we always came up with another goal.”

For Stars boss Steve Komphela, the only man in South African football capable of talking Gavin Hunt under the table, it was nearly too much: “I am so disappointed. Football is such a strange game. It makes you so excited.

“My belly was full of tension, it was so full I could burst. So I had to kick a chair to relieve the stress.”

And with Katlego Cambridge Mashego breaking his leg in two places, Komphela said: “Football is like a war, there are casualties. There are no prisoners of war. We will miss him.”

And so to the final on December 1. The venue has yet to be decided but with Charles Mopeli not attracting many pre-match pop concerts, the surface was good, the crowd loud… so perhaps we could look forward to another Kwaaa-Kwaaa showdown. The Orlando Stadium remains favourite, though Moses Mabhida and Nelson Mandela Bay have both been mooted.

And in the background looms the figure of Teko Modise, the Sundowns midfielder who holds the dubious distinction of being the best modern South African footballer NOT to have won a trophy.

Modise was picked up by SuperSport United  after winning the Mvela Golden League Player of the Season while playing for City Pillars during the 2005/2006 season. After two seasons with Matsatsantsa a Pitori when they finished 6^th and 7^thin the PSL, he was spotted by Orlando Pirates.

But while he was strutting his stuff for the Buccaneers and winning Player of the Year awards in 2008 and 2009, Teko had to be content with seeing SuperSport United win three titles in a row.

Then, when he left for Sundowns after a fall-out with Ruud Krol, the Buccaneers won two successive trebles after Modise's depature. Meanwhile Daine Klate, in direct contrast, had won FIVE titles on the trot with SuperSport and Pirates. All of which led, predictably, to talk of a Modise trophy jinx.

After his side crashed out of this season’s MTN8 against Moroka Swallows, Modise said: "It's very disappointing. We can't be talking about this same thing year after year."

This time, with Modise back to something approaching his best, won’t just be about Msandawana and Phunya Sele Sele. It will be the Teko Modise final. And I think the trophy-winning jinx may soon be at an end.

Game of the season followed by warmed balls... and Gordon's latest Bafana

Gotcha: The picture that proves Celtic goalkeeper Amour
Tignyemb moved off his line for the Manyisa penalty

IT’S not often you witness a side 3-1 up in the 90^th minute of a quarter-final go crashing out of a cup competition. Yet somehow, that is exactly what habitual treble winners Orlando Pirates contrived to manage in Bloemfontein on Sunday.

Roger and out? For the Buccaneers’ hopes of defending the Telkom Knock Out it was certainly that. Comfortable progress was wrecked by TWO late Celtic goals which sees both Free State sides join the Tshwane rivals SuperSport United and Mamelodi Sundowns in the semi-finals after an epic weekend of knock-out action.

Predictably (I said so on twitter shortly before the draw) we have ended up with two derbies in the semi-finals, and I'm predicting a final at Irvin Khoza's Orlando Stadium now his beloved Pirates are out.That's what happpened in the MTN8 showdown and nobody complained. It's all about warming your balls at these draws, or so Diego Maradona told me once.  Gavin Hunt and Steve Komphela are tasked with derailing a lucrative Celtic v Sundowns final. 

Right on cue, SuperSport United midfielder Franklin Cale came up with this comforting quote after the draw: “I am happy, it is a lovely draw. I did not expect to play against Sundowns but I am happy with the draw."

But I digress. As the social networks buzzed with scathing critiques of Pirates coach Roger de Sa – particularly over his use of substitutes in perhaps the best game of the season so far – it’s worth noting blooming Celtic needed a little help to reach their semi-final against Free State Stars.

Firstly, consider the penalty that put Celtic on the scoresheet. After a scintillating free-kick from Daine Klate and a second goal from Oupa Manyisa, referee Victory Gomez surprised even the ardent home fans with his decision to penalise Siya Sangweni for a clumsy challenge on the edge of the area.

Lennox Bacela scored from the penalty spot, but within seconds in a five-goal second-half, Thabo Matlaba produced a scorcher to restore the two-goal cushion.

Then, with 90 minutes on the clock, Ruzaigh Gamildien’s head made it 3-2 amid a host of time-wasting Piratical injuries which included everything medical ailment known to man, apart from the traditional eye-patch.

And there was Botswana's Joel Mogorosi, after a ponderous Moeneeb Joseph punch, bicycle-kicking the equaliser in the fourth minute of extra-time. Pure footballing theatre which left the nation on the edge of their seats, at the Free State Stadium and at home.

Extra-time came and went without a clincher… and when it came to penalties if front of the impassioned Phunya Sele Sele fans, Celtic were perfect from Bacela to the nerveless Dominic Isaacs, who calmly clobbered the fifth and final nail in to Joseph’s sound-proofed coffin.

Celtic boss Clinton Larsen grinned: "Normally when you are trailing with minutes to go teams give up, but it was the opposite for my players. We showed a lot of character and commitment. We are starting to gel now.”

But Larsen failed to discuss the Bacela penalty during normal time – or the fact his beautifully-named Cameroon goalkeeper Patrick Amour Tignyemb, the man in the Petr Cech headgear, was a yard off his line for the decisive Manyisa penalty save in the shoot-out.

On top of that, De Sa – panned for replacing striker Collins Mbesuma with luckless Ndumiso Mabena and forced to put Lucky Lekgwathi on at full-back early on – had to contend with an injury to Andile Jali after he had made his three replacements. Jali limped through to the finish and even converted a spot kick, but in truth he was struggling through the vital stages. Perhaps that's why Gordon Igesund chose to leave him out of yet another Bafana squad today, though rumours of the reasons behind his glaring ommission continue to plague the social networks.

And then of course, we must consider history. For all their recent trophy-winning form the Pirates – who will have to lift the African Champions League, PSL and Nedbank Cup to complete a miraculous third successive treble – have not won at the Free State Stadium since 2008.

Now De Sa finds himself back in a must-win situation against reviving Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus Versfeld in the PSL tomorrow night. But he does have an ace up his sleeve. The former Wits coach reveals: “Benni McCarthy will be in the squad. He scored in a friendly 2-2 draw against AmaTuks on Saturday and I can assure you that if he sits on my bench, he is fully fit.”

With one Piratical eye on the so-called spat with Bafana coach Igesund, De Sa added: “If Benni is ready to play for us, he is ready to play for anyone.”

Sadly, it all comes too early for the national squad named yesterday to face AFCON champions Zambia at Soccer City in the Mandela Challenge on November 14. We might have seen McCarthy face up against current Orlando Pirates top-scorer Collins Mbesuma.

Instead, it appears Igesund will opt for Bernard Parker and Benni's former strike partner Tokelo Rantie. Interestingly, both Wayne Sandilands and Moeneeb Josephs have been discarded as Itumeleng Khune's goalkeeping back-up with former Wits stopper Darren Keet, 23, asked to fly over from Belgium for the game.

Gordon's former Moroka Swallows striker Katlego Mashego earns a call up front, hardly a surprise considering his six goals for the Birds so far this season. There are also long-awaited recalls for Thanduyise Khuboni (Lamontville Golden Arrows), Thuso Phala (Platinum Stars) and Kermit Erasmus (Supersport United) in a squad Igesund describes as a "last chance" saloon.

Igesund claims he picked Orlando Pirates midfielder Andile Jali for the Zambia game but crossed his name off when it was revealed he would be out injured after the knee injury he sustained against Celtic on Sunday. He said: "Andile is a good player, I had him in the squad until they called this morning."

With the African Cup of Nations kicking off at Soccer City on January 19, Igesund and his No2 Serame Letsoaka will fly to England tonight to chat to foreign-based Bafana stars, and as I twittered last week, the trip WILL include a chat with Everton's Steven Pienaar.

Igesund said: "Look, we'll have a cup of coffee. I think I owe him at least that. We can't turn our backs on him. Steve has been a great ambassador for his country, he gave us 10 years of service.

“There was lots of criticism. Plenty of talk. People thought he shouldn’t be the captain. I want to ask him why he retired. It must have been a very tough decision based obviously on  being away for six weeks at a key part of the season in the UK.

“The main reason I'm flying over is to try to get my players released a week early, over Christmas. It is very important to have a relationship with these managers, we’ll try to look after each other.”

My expected starting line-up against Zambia: Khune; Ngcongca, Sangweni, Khumalo (capt), Masenamela; Myeni, Furman, Dikgachoi, Modise; Parker, Rantie.

BAFANA BAFANA SQUAD TO FACE ZAMBIA:

Goalkeepers
Itumeleng Khune (Kaizer Chiefs)
Darren Keet (KV Kortrijk, Belgium)

Defenders
Anele Ngcongca (Racing Club Genk, Belgium)
Siyabonga Sangweni (Orlando Pirates)
Bongani Khumalo (PAOK, Greece) (captain)
Bevan Fransman (SuperSport United)
Ricardo Nunes (MSK Zilina, Slovakia)
Punch Masenamela (Mamelodi Sundowns)
Thabo Nthethe (Bloemfontein Celtic)

Midfielders
Dean Furman (Oldham Athletic, England)
Thanduyise Khuboni (Golden Arrows)
Reneilwe Letsholonyane (Kaizer Chiefs)
Lerato Chabangu (Moroka Swallows)
Kagisho Dikgacoi (Crystal Palace, England)
Teko Modise (Mamelodi Sundowns)
Oupa Manyisa (Orlando Pirates)
Thuso Phala (Platinum Stars)
Sifiso Myeni (Orlando Pirates)
Siphiwe Tshabalala (Kaizer Chiefs)
Delron Buckley (Maritzburg United)

Strikers
Bernard Parker (Kaizer Chiefs)
Katlego Mashego (Moroka Swallows)
Tokelo Rantie (Malmo FF, Sweden)
Kermit Erasmus (SuperSport United)

Given the choice between Palacios, Vermezovic and Komphela, who would you choose?

The biggest question in South African football is the simplest one of all: presented with Vladimir Vermezovic, Augusto Palacios and Steve Komphela, who would YOU choose to coach your football club?

Not difficult is it? Kaizer Chiefs boss VV isn’t that bad. He produces answers we can understand without sub-titles, though the Serbian has yet to explain satisfactorily the curious absence of midfielder Tinashe Nengomasha in recent weeks, following an alleged training-ground bust-up.

Lehlohonolo Majoro's four-goal Nedbank Cup blitz against the Leopards at the weekend certainly did VV no harm. The lad with "balz" now has eight goals in seven games and may just turn things around for the patient Amakhosi millions.

Palacios, the Peruvian caretaker at Orlando Pirates, remains difficult to read or listen to. His tactical decisions in the Buccaneers’ 2-1 extra-time Nedbank Cup defeat against Komphela’s Free State Stars were hard to fathom, just like those of his suspended Brazilian predecessor Julio Leal. He gained measure of revenge in the League game against Komphela’s men, but I’m still not convinced.

And then we have Komphela and his little Stars of Bethlehem. Not only has the former Amakhosi midfielder produced a multi-national company to be proud of in South Africa’s remote “House of Bread”, he also gives a cracking interview – and was able to raise his shell-shocked troops to victory in extra-time after the late, late equaliser from Daine Klaite last week.

The Nedbank Cup quarter-final against Kaizer Chiefs now looms for “Ea Lla Kotto” (Basotho for ”fight to the end”) and even a possible title tilt, though the three Soweto giants – never forget Moroka Swallows - and Johan Neeskens’ currently impregnable Sundowns stand firmly in their way.

The point is this: With Palacios is temporary charge at Pirates and VV under huge pressure at Chiefs, surely Komphela should be the coach of choice for Irvin Khoza and Kaizer Motaung, South Africa’s footballing king-makers?

It’s not like this is a new story. Google “Neal Collins Free State Stars” and you’ll find http://neal-collins.blogspot.com/2011/12/o-little-town-of-bethlehem-all-you-ever.html, my pre-Christmas epic which wrapped up and presented Komphela’s men, including Zambia’s Afcon winning goalkeeper Kennedy Mweena and top-scorer Edward Manqela two weeks before Santa popped down the chimney.

Curiously, Kaizer and his son Bobby have emphatically denied any link between their family business and Komphela, who served under Bafana Bafana boss Palacios a full 20 years ago.

All the talk is of Bloemfontein Celtic coach Clinton Larsen or Germany’s 1990 World Cup-winning captain Lothar Mathaus heading for the big time, with former Pirates’ treble-winning boss Ruud Krol waiting in the wings with his notebook and pen resplendent at so many SAPL matches this season.

Madness. In a nation crying out for local coaches of quality at all levels, Komphela, who played 24 times for South Africa in a playing career which covered Chiefs, Stars and two stints in Turkey, stands out like a sore but prominent thumb.

His post-match interview on Saturday was a thing of beauty, as it so often is with the philosophical Komphela.

He generously paid tribute to the Buccaneers who walked the plank in a cup competition for the first time since 2010, saying: “There was a moment when I felt that it was not meant to be our night (that was probably in the inexplicable 5^th minute of injury time when Klaite’s free-kick found a route past the miserly Mweene) but my players showed great fighting spirit.

“We knew the Pirates profile. We knew they were dangerous. My team’s performance was close to perfection. It had to be.”

Despite a subsequent Rantie/McCarthy inspired defeat on the cabbage patch that is the Orlando Stadium, Komphela remains an over-achiever this season.

As for his relationship with then-national boss Palacios in 1992, Khompela grinned: “I remember well how Augusto made me captain of the national team. It was Palacios who introduced me to leadership – so it was interesting to achieve victory against my leader, my mentor, my coach.

“Augusto came up to me before he game and said: ‘We have to kill each other today,’ but no son can be happy murdering his father. We just scored beautiful goals.”

Read it carefully. This man Khomphela has the verbal acumen of Tottenham’s Harry Redknapp and, arguably, the recuperational skills of Sunderland’s Martin O’Neill. Give him the longevity in management offered to Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsene Wenger, and South Africa will have a coach to conjure with.

NEDBANK CUP QUARTER-FINAL DRAW:
Amazulu (my choice) v Santos
Kaizer Chiefs v Free State Stars
SuperSport United v Jomo Cosmos
Mamelodi Sundowns v Maritzburg United

This column first appeared in www.thenewage.co.za. A newspaper well worth a read… my column Neal and Pray appears every Tuesday… and it’s only R3.50!

President Kennedy will be back in action on Saturday - if he isn't whisked off to Europe

FIRST the bad news. Kennedy Mweene, the goalkeeping hero of Zambia’s African Cup of Nations triumph over the Ivory Coast in Libreville last Sunday will NOT be playing for South Africa’s Free State Stars against SuperSport United on Wednesday night.

The Lucas “Masterpieces” Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville will be a sadder place for it. While the Ivorian brothers Yaya and Kolo Toure had a private jet waiting to zoom them back to Manchester City after the final, Mweene relies on scheduled flights and community cabs to get him back to Bethlehem, the remote Free State town 350km from Johannesburg which is home to the Free State Stars.

Mweene, picked as the goalkeeper of the tournament, admits: “I don’t think I will make it back on Wednesday. There is still a lot to be done after our win, the country is celebrating. However, I will be available on Saturday against Amazulu.”

Without wishing to blow my own trumpet, I did predict modest Mweena would emerge as President Kennedy after his clash with Didier Drogba ­ http://scoopnews.co.za/didier-or-die-for-zambia/.

Now the good news. He’s ready to return to the South African Premier League and strut his stuff despite his new-found fame after denying Drogba and Co in an 8-7 penalty shoot-out win for the Chipolopolo (Copper Bullets). Mweene says: “I will really have to work hard now. After Sunday, everyone in South Africa will want to score against the champion! It won’t be easy for me anymore!”

Not that it has ever been easy for the 27-year-old stopper, who played all six games in Zambia’s emotional success in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon before, vitally, saving Kolo Toure’s kick in the final shoot-out. With a string of psychological antics and plenty of chat, he also encouraged Chelsea’s fearsome Didier Drogba to put one penalty over the bar in the 70^th minute of the goalless final and saw Arsenal’s Gervinho put the final spot kick wide.

And all that after a superb save during the perfect first ten penalties – and then being flagged for being marginally off his line.

The man who also saved Asamoah Gyan’s spot-kick in the semi-final against highly-fancied Ghana says: Our coach Herve Renard (who once coached England’s Cambridge United in the Football League’s lowest level) helped us to keep cool, whether it’s a big or small game. He’s done a lot with us mentally. That’s why I wasn’t shaking about Drogba. There was no panic.”

Voted goal.com’s 143^rd world player of the week for his performance during the final, Mweene is now a wanted man. And Free State Stars say they won’t stand in his way if a European club makes an offer for a man who has scored three goals – as many as Orlando Pirates former West Ham striker – in the Premier League this season.

Mweene, who scored during the penalty shoot-out on Sunday, has already attracted attention from local rivals Mamelodi Sundowns but Stars manager Rantsi Mokoena told kickoff.com this week: “We signed Kennedy as an unknown 21-year-old and he is very loyal to Free State Stars.

 “In the last three seasons he has been receiving offers, but he has turned all of them down in order to remain with us. So far we haven’t received any offers, but if he gets offers to go overseas then I’m sure we won’t stand in his way.”

Born in the Zambian capital Lusaka, Mweene was voted the South African Premier League’s top keeper in 2009/10 but his contract expires on June 30, 2014.  His business manager Ryan Hartslief of Bigtime Sports will no doubt be interested to hear Mokoena’s comments.

Mweene started his career with Lusaka Dynamos, playing 27 games for them in 2004 as a teenager, before moving to Kitwe United in 2005 and played 30 games for them before Free State Stars swooped. Mweena is currently listed as having played 14 times for the Bethlehem side known by their Basotho motto “Ea Lla Kotto” or ”fight to the end”. He made his Zambia debut in the same year, and has been Chipolopolo’s first choice ever since, playing 67 times for his country so far.

Unlike most football writers, I’d actually earmarked President Kennedy as a star before this tournament. Have a squint at http://neal-collins.blogspot.com/2011/12/o-little-town-of-bethlehem-all-you-ever.html

And keep a very close eye on President Kennedy. He may just be on his way to stardom beyond the Free State Stars.

O Little Town of Bethlehem: all you ever needed to know about Free State Stars

Home to the Stars: Bethlehem in the Free State

O little town of Bethlehem/How still we see thee lie/Above thy deep and dreamless sleep/The silent stars go by.


And there’s more, don’t go away, this really is a footballing tale of note …

Yet in thy dark streets shineth/The everlasting Light/The hopes and fears of all the years/Are met in thee tonight

Yes, Bethlehem. Birth place of the legendary Jesus H Christ? No, Bethlehem in the Free State actually. Population 66,704. Home of a whole constellation of silent stars from all over Africa who go under the collective name of Free State Stars.

When Rector Phillips Brooks (1835-1903) of Philadelphia, wrote the words to O Little Town of Bethlehem in 1868, following a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, he probably didn’t envisage it would precise a footballing miracle nearly 150 years later.

But it does. Neatly, for a side whose goalkeeper has scored as many League goals this season as Benni McCarthy.

Nestled on Liebenbergs Vlei, along a fertile valley just south of the Rooiberg Mountains on the N5 highway, our modest All Stars have fashioned a football team which has taken the Rainbow Nation by storm this summer. Currently third in the South Africa Premier League, they are out-gunning the giants of Soweto, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. Only Gavin Hunt’s gritty Supersports United and the millionaires of Mamelodi Sundowns currently outshine Steve Komphela’s All Stars.

In winter, it can be the chilliest place in the country. At an altitude of 1700m, temperatures have been known to plummet to a frosty 11 degrees below zero in July. Yes, the toe-numbing climate goes against the grain but hey, the place is named after its wheat granaries, hence "Beit Lechem" (Hebrew for "house of bread").

They play their home games at versatile Goble Park – capacity 20,000, Free State hosted two first class cricket games there in the 1930s - the local township is called Bohlokong (Sesotho for "place of pain") and they expected a bit of discomfort at Soccer City last night (Saturday, 17 December), when they came up against Kaizer Motaung’s gold-and-black striped Amakhosi, level with Ea Lla Koto on 24 points, just four adrift of top dogs Supersport.

But fear not, defeat cannot dim the light cast in Bethlehem this Christmas. Their final game before the Festive break comes against the formidable Sundowns, but you won’t find Stars’ general manager Rantsi Mokoena chewing his nails. He told the club’s website: "Our team is a work in progress – but the truth is, I expect us to maintain our form.

“It is not a fluke we are third in the table. A fluke is when you win three or four games and people make noise about that and then you lose five games. We have won four and drawn the other one in the past five matches and that is consistency.

"We have retained players that traditionally we could have sold. We didn't have Paulus Masehe and Manti Moholo when we beat Maritzburg United away from home, but we got the three points.

"Previously, we could have been rattled if we didn't have those players, but now we say 'let's go there and get the three points', confidently so.

"There are players such as Mpho Makola – what a player he is – and Thabo Matlaba, who haven't seen a lot of game-time. We rate Thabo very highly, but we are sitting among the top teams without him.

"To show you the kind of confidence we show in our players, have a look at Rudiger Gilbert. He kept disappearing last season and made just 10 appearances. He did some introspection and realised he couldn't carry on like that.

“To be fair, the boy's mother was seriously ill last season and eventually passed away and I think that really disturbed him. Now he is having his best season in football, he has missed just one game all season and that was through suspension.

“Facilities are a big challenge here but from a privacy point of view, training at the local army base works for us.”

The Stars one problem? Referees. Boss Komphela, a former Kaizer Chief with a lengthy CV in South African footballing circles (Baby Bafana, Manning Rangers, Platinum Stars and Dynamos amongst others), says: “We are a small team, we do not complain about referees, instead we use them as motivation. We have had at least five points stolen from us this season by decisions (a goal unfairly denied against Platinum Stars and two goals against both Supersport and local rivals Bloemfontein Celtic) but referees are human.

“If a mistake is a deliberate act, then it raises suspicions. But we are on track. I am aiming for two points against Chiefs and Sundowns. We have capable players who can go all the way.

“The West African players our scouts found at a tournament up north have stabilised the team in all departments. Mix them with the local boys and we have a very competent outfit.”

Originally founded in 1977 as Makwane Computer Stars in a small village in Qwa-Qwa, the club gained promotion into the 1st division of the NPSL in 1986.

Sponsorship was secured from Fairways Supermarket and the side moved from Makwane to Phuthadithjaba, the hub of Qwa-Qwas`s economy. As Fairways Stars, the side grew in popularity and eventually became Qwa Qwa Stars with the Basotho slogan “Ea Lla Kotto” or ”fight to the end”.

The club's franchise was sold to the Premier Soccer League in 2002. A year later, Mike Mokoena revived the club and and in 2005, as Free State Stars, they were back in the Premiership after winning the Mvela Golden League.

They went straight back down but battled back to secure their top flight status in 2007–08. They list coach Komphela as their most-capped Bafana Bafana player with 10 international appearances (he actually won 24) and Bunene Ngaduana as the club’s historic top scorer with 79 goals (he scored 19 in 1993) while they list a record defeat of 7-1 against a certain Mamelodi Sundowns in 1998.

So what else can we tell you about the current side, who practice at the local defence force base and get changed in the car park before training? I can offer their captain Kennedy Mweene, a Zambian goalkeeper who likes to take penalties. He’s scored three times from the spot this season, which puts him level it a certain Mr McCarthy and Stars’ top scorer Katlego Mashego in the SAPL top-scorers’ list so far.

Mweene says on the club’s website www.freestatestars.co.za: “I am confident that we will reach 30 points before the Christmas break and that despite having to play the so called big teams and with the mood and confidence high in the camp I see nobody stopping us.

“In the past season we used to drop points with the “smaller” teams but tables have turned, we have been beating them left right and centre and playing Chiefs and Sundowns back-to-back is a motivation on its own.

“This is one of our best starts in a very long time and we have laid a good foundation and thanks to the management, technical team and players for their contribution in the club success this season and anything is possible. We could even win the league.”

Like most of the squad, Mweene learned his trade on dusty foreign fields. Training in front of soldiers with automatic weapons is no great shakes. A scouting mission to the West African Football Union tournament pre-season yielded a crop of Togolese stars – striker Morou Zakari, full back Sadate Akoriko and midfielder Dove Wome. From Nigeria, there’s top scorer David Agbagwu – just called up for their U23 Olympic squad - plus the currently injured international centre-back Soriala Gege.

While they will miss Gege in their final two games of the year, Agbagwu is bubbling with confidence. After stints with FC Bolowotan and FC Eko United in Lagos, he secured a moved to CD Athletico Baleares in the Spanish Segunda (second) division, where he recalls: “We used the ball a lot, my coach encouraged a lot of ball work at training because he had himself played for Barcelona before. The game is not as fast as the English Premier League or Italian Seria A but very much about slow build-ups with a killer finish. I enjoyed the lifestyle as well, there's a lot of good food and good weather there.”

Then came the move to Bethlehem via Ajax Cape Town, where, the 22-year-old says: “I would like to score goals for the Stars as they have shown belief in my talent. If all goes well, I want to do so well that I rise steadily until I turn out for either Manchester United or Barcelona.”

Lofty ambitions. But the dark and dreamless streets from Bethlehem to Barcelona have rarely looked shinier.