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11 BRAVE SIHLANGU WARRIORS, ONE BIASED REF

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My dearest readers ... A tiger, just like every animal in the jungle, has its limitations.


Sihlangu’s heartbreaking exit from the 2015 COSAFA Cup truly felt like a stab in the heart on Friday night. Statistics, as the ancient wisemen observed, are like a bikini – what they reveal is suggestive but what they conceal is vital. Goal difference of a single goal is all it took to undo all the best laid plans for Harries ‘Madze’ Bulunga and his brave warriors in a tournament they just played above themselves.


No one gave Sihlangu a chance going into the tournament but two wins and a draw – ending the tournament without defeat and with seven points – by all accounts is a huge achievement by any standards.


The reality though is that, like all previous coaches since the new format was introduced by COSAFA we have failed again to go beyond the group stages. The naked truth is, if Madze’s mandate was to reach the knockout stages he has also failed in that regard. Nevertheless, what gives hope this time around is not just the splendid performance the boys displayed but the fight to put on and restoring pride to the national team jersey.

‘Madze’ has succeeded where all the foreign journeymen who have been here earning cellphone number salaries – from Raul Savoy, Shakes Mashaba, Elyamony Ayman and that Belgian palooka Valere Billen – failed dismally. Sihlangu had become a team of Zeros in the COSAFA Cup. Zero goals. Zero wins. Zero confidence. Zero support. Our national team had become like an old bra – No cups.


At times we all wondered whether Sihlangu could ever score a goal again – never mind winning a game. But in Rustenburg, where the larger-than-life colleague Dumisani Ntiwane says the residents showed them so much love and affection, they turned into an unstoppable monster. True to the mantra of the sponsor who took our reporters to Rustenburg, they were Nando’s Peri Peri hot! A 1-0 win over a very poor Tanzania was followed up by a heart-warming 2-0 victory over Lesotho in which Sihlangu displayed their best performance since they beat Zimbabwe 2-0 in Harare back in 2002.

Comments (2 posted):

Thobzin on 26/05/2015 08:48:16
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WELL SAID, we are proud of our team and Madze's effort
bongi on 26/05/2015 21:53:40
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Shakes Mashaba was the best we win some games during his time and we played well in that Cosafa under him

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