Local soccer in high motion

The up and downs of Premier Soccer League

African cup of Nation is gone and ABSA Premier Soccer League (PSL) has started with a high note.  Teams that are representing the country have also resumed their journey with good results.

Nigerian national team have proved themselves as the best in the continent, after they were crowed the champions of African in South Africa.  The super eagles of Nigeria defeated Burkina Faso in the final of Afcon few weeks ago.

Furthermore, PSL have started in full swing last week. Log leaders, Kaizer Chiefs have seen themselves in the second spot for few days after starting the league with a draw against the most improved Mamelodi Sundwons.

The draw between Amakhosi and Sundowns has given Orlando Pirates a chance to taste the top spot for only three days. This was after Chiefs have managed to reclaim their first spot following their 2-1 win against Free State Stars.

The Buccaneers still have a chance to regain the top spot because they have a game in hand. Pirates did not play their match because they were representing the country in Champions League.  Their 5-0 win against Djabal FC in Champion league might be a moral boost in the PSL to regain their three days top spot.

Supersport United have also represented the country well with a 1-0 win away from home. That win against  CS Don Bosco have gave them a fair chance to be the victorious in the second leg at home.

Chippa United also have surprised many people after beating Black Leopard 3 – 0 in their last league game.  That win saw them moving away from bottom of the table ahead of Amazulu and Ajax with goals difference.

Burkina Faso up for Nigeria

Burkina Faso to face one of the top nation in the history of football

Burkina Faso came to the tournament as the underdog, but they surprised many people after they managed to advance to the Final of the African Cup of Nation.

The Stallions of Burkina Faso as nicknamed,  managed to beat Ghana on the penalties after what many can say the referee was not on their side. Most people believe that the referee of the day was one sided, was in favour of the Ghanaians.

However, that did discourage Burkina Faso to bounce back and equalize after Ghana got the so called “soft penalty”. Burkina Faso will be joining The Super Eagles of Nigeria in the final.

Nigeria advanced to the final after it defeated Mali 4-1 in the semi-finals. Mali who knocked Bafana Bafana out of the competitions throught the penalties, was not good to stop the inform Nigeria.

Nigeria knocked one of the tournament’s favorite Ivory Coast in the quarter finals of the competition.  Most thought Ghana and Ivory Coast will be the two teams standing up tall in the final of the tournament, but things turn out other way round.

The final of the African Cup of Nation will be played at the National Stadium on this coming Sunday.  The kick off will be at 20h00 and the opening ceremony will start an hour earlier. 

Togo was too good for Tunisia

The Togolese national team is now in the quarter finals

After the game last night, Emmanuel Adebayor and his solders showed that they can go all the way and win the Afcon tournament. Togo and Tunisia played 1-1 draw last night at Mbombela Stadium. 

However, the Togolese managed to advance to the quarter finals after they were leading Tunisia with one goal different. 

All teams are on four points, but one goal different was too good to earn Togo a space in the second stage of the tournament.

People were making allegations that the referee was not fair on that night, but the Togolise didn’t let any referee’s decision to get in their way to the quarter finals. 

Same think that Tunisia was lucky to be awarded a penalty that night. The referee gave Tunisia two penalties in that game, which same think were not supposed to be given.  

“Those penalties were the so called ‘soft penalties’, Tunisia was lucky to get those penalties. If you were looking the game, you will agree with me when I say Togo was denied two fair penalties” said a  fun.

Togo was the last team to qualify to the quarter finals to meet the other seven teams that had already qualified. 

Here are the quarter  finals fixtures!!!

Teams                                 Time Date                       Venue

South Africa VS Mali            02-02-13 20:30               Durban         

Ghana VS Cape Verde        02-02-13 17:00               Port Elizabeth   

Burkina Faso VS Togo         03-02-13 20:30               Nelspruit              

Cote d'Ivoire VS Nigeria.      03-02-13 17:00               Rustenburg

Bafana Bafan in the quarter finals

Finally, Bafana Bafana have managed to qualify to the quarter finals after many years.

It was one of the group that many thought will be a walk free for Bafana Bafana and Morocco, but thinks where not as expected.  

A draw was good enough to earn Bafana a place in the quarter finals, after the managed to get full four point from their first two games. 

Their draw against Morocco was the reason why they are on top of group A for the first time after some years.

The tournament newcomers, Cape Verde, were one of the underdogs. However, Tubarões Azuis (Blue Sharks) as their nickname, managed to reach the second stage of the tournament.

They defeated Angola 2-1 in the last game of the group stages and earned themselves a second spot in group A. 

That led to the two group A favourites, Angola and Morocco, to pack they bags and fly back home to watch the tournament on television.

Other teams that managed to qualify are Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Mali, Ghana and Nigeria. The last year champions, Zambia, are out of the tournament. There are two last games to be played in the group stages that will decide which last team will be in the quarter finals.

Tonight’s games are Algeria vs Ivory Coast at Royal Bafokeng Stadium; and Togo vs Tunisia at Mbombela Stadium. All games will be played at the sometime, which will be 19h00.

Greetings

Firstly, we like to apologise for not updating you with all the information regarding football in the previous months . We understand that this might have been a very unkindful of us, especially during the on-going African Cup of Nation (Afcon) in our country. We are back now and we promise to update you with the latest Afcon and PSL news.

We hope you had a very wonderful and blessed festive season, and we are confident that we will have a very good 2013 together.

Your site manager

Madisha TL