May Mahlangu cannot use fatigue as a reason to not play: Soccer Legends

May Mahlangu. 

May Mahlangu’s fatigue reasons are not adequate to have him pull out of a national team match, this was the general consensus among soccer legends in Johannesburg.

Manchester Legends and Orlando Pirates legends believe that there is something more than just fatigue that forced Mahlangu to pull out of Bafana Bafana AFCON qualifier match.

Mahlangu announced on Tuesday that he will not be available for the Bafana match on Saturday citing fatigue.

Former Orlando Pirates goalkeeper Sir William Okpara said that Mahlangu could have at least travelled to South Africa and spoken to the technical team about his reason’s for pulling out of the team.

“You can say you are fatigued or whatever, come Sunday or Monday we see you play for your club. What will people say?

“The mistake he made was for not coming down for the people, his brother here to examine him and say okay this guy deserves to have a rest,” said Okpara.

Manchester Legend’s Viv Anderson said Mahlangu’s reason does not make sense because he would never miss an opportunity to play for his country even if he was on his ‘death door’.

“If he was my player there’s no way he would come out of the squad through fatigue. As a person I would never ever, if I had an opportunity to play for my country I would take the opportunity, I would never say no to my country,” said Anderson.

Manchester Legends arrived in the country on Wednesday for their match against Orlando Pirates legends.

The match will be played on Saturday evening immediately after Bafana Bafana match, and will be played in memory of the former Bafana captain Senzo Meyiwa who was shot dead in Vosloorus in what has been described as a ‘botched robbery’.

Many take on the conventional approach to raise money for charities. Mergers are made, partnerships are concluded once individuals reach the pinnacle of their career success.

However, few individuals realize the vast possibilities and opportunities that lie in merging talents with business. One such individual is Maria Conceição, who proved to be a success as she managed to attract more people to her organisation, the Maria Cristina Foundation, by breaking the 1999 Guinness World Record after being the fastest to finish 7 Ultra Marathons, on 7 Continents in 7 weeks.

Maria Conceição uses a unique method to raise funds through marathons for the Maria Cristina Foundation based in Dubai which helps slum-dwelling Bangladeshi children with funds for standard education.

Conceição has ran in (23) different countries for her foundation raising over (10million) and attracted major sponsors including Etihad Airways. Etihad Airways took notice of her after successfully completing the 7 marathons in 7 days across the 7 Emirates walk in December 2011.

When she completed the North Pole marathon, Conceição signed up an AED scholarship endorsement to the amount of 2.7mil which covered the education for 5 children from the slums of Dhaka to study in Dubai. All these costs covered education, transportation, meals as well as school uniform. Etihad Airways then became an official sponsor, offering free flight tickets to the children on sponsorships to visit relatives, as well as candidates under their employment program.

The airline also sponsored the flights for the 777 Challenge. Once she arrived in South Africa, one of the largest shipment/logistics company in the world, the United Parcel Service (UPS) assisted with her traveling arrangements.

Maria shared that the foundation's greatest achievement is in empowering slum dwellers to break out of the development trap and to claim the dignity and self-determination that they deserve and have every right to.

The bigger the challenges and/or marathons they partook in, the bigger the influx of attention the foundation received. Maria clarified, “... what we really need for long term sustainability is partnerships with corporates or individuals to help us more over a long period .So we have to do high impact challenges and events to attract their attention.”

She shared that she unfortunately never has the opportunity to tour and venture into the cultures of the countries she has been. But despite that, she met great and inspirational people, even whilst competing in the 777 Challenge. Questioned over her fitness regime, Maria gave thanks and recognition to RightBite, as well as Up And Running sports that have assisted her to meet the intense conditions of the challenges and injuries she sustained.

Despite injuries, cold conditions and traveling, Maria Conceição made it to the last leg of the 777 Challenge in Venturesbrug, South Africa.

“To break the cycle of poverty and despair, one has to climb mountains every sinlge day. My life mission is to do that both on the ground and every step to the highest peak.” - Maria Conceição

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Vermezovic appointed Pirates' coach

Soweto giants Orlando Pirates has announced appointment of a new coach, Vladimir Vermezovic on a 3-year contract.

This comes after former coach Roger De Sa's resignation two weeks ago who has since been linked with a move to a coach less Ajax Cape Town. We have not heard any confirmation just yet.

The Serbian-born coach will be looking at correcting his failures at Kaizer Chiefs whee he was subsequently fired in 2012 , despite the lack of faith from Bucs fans and some of the media.

"I have unfinished business in South Africa. Orlando Pirates, a giant in African football, is offering me an opportunity to fulfill a dream of a lifetime. I am grateful for the opportunity," said Vermezovic.

His appointment comes unexpected as the Bucs coaching vacancy was linked with the recently resigned Ajax CT coach Muhsin Ertugral who remains jobless.

Vermezovic's coaching career on the other hand has not been very sweet with the sole highlight of his career coming from his time at his former club Spartizen where he managed to reach UEFA Cup final in 2004/5 season.

One of the things Vermezovic will be hoping to change is the 'loser' perception Premier Soccer League (PSL) fans have about him despite having won Telkom Knockout competition in 2009/10 and 2010/11 respectively.

"I have had to study Orlando Pirated very closely from the other side. I am therefore not coming into an unknown environment.

"It should help because I know the supporters expect me to hit the deck running," said Vermezovic.

Seventh Brazil World Cup stadium on the exit

Kgothatso Madisa
@kgmadisa

2014 World Cup hosts Brazil is facing one of its biggest battles as they are yet to complete one of the hosting stadium in Curitiba, Parana.

Arena da Baixada, Brazil

The stadium has not been completed and FIFA officials are on their neck as deadline is looming. General Secretary of the body Jerome Valcke has given the country until February 18 to complete everything or the stadium will be stripped off its hosting rights.

"If you don't have a stadium then you cannot have four games taking place here. So that's why again there is this emergency situation," Valcke quoted by CNN.

The Arena da Baixena is being expanded to raise its capacity from just over 28 400 to 40 000 but the expansion might be all in vain as the stadia might not even be part of the World Cup hosts.

"To be very honest, the situation is not ideal. The stadium is very delayed and well outside the delivery schedule to ensure best use by FIFA and the FIFA World Cup," said Valcke.

The Guardian has revealed that the stadium is so far behind schedule that organisers have admitted the venue will not be ready for its first match on June 16.

Arena da Baixena is one of the six stadiums in Brazil that have missed the given completion deadline given by FIFA and this is believed to be discussed at length when Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff meets with FIFA President Seppuku Blatter.

The Parana givernenment has since promised to add  extra £10 million for necessary for the required increased workforce,

Mosimane: We are only 6 months old

Kgothatso Madisa
@kgmadisa

It was a dog-eat-dog play when hosts Mamelodi Sundowns went down 1-nil to log leaders Kaizer Chiefs on Thursday January 23, 2014.

Glamour Boys managed to hold back Bafana Bastyle who came out guns blazing at the sold out Loftus Versfeld Stadium eager to continue their 7 games winning streak at home.

It was an unfortunate own goal by Sundowns' defender Wayne Arendse from a set-piece by Bernard Parker  that separated the two teams.

The Brazilians ensured they did not give Chiefs any space to breathe after goal with countless counter-attacks that led to nothing but bitter taste on the fans and coach Pitso Mosimane.

"We deserved more than what we got, but that is the game of football.

"We played against a good team, the football God's were not with us," said Mosimane.

The 7th successive win sees Amakhosi 8 points clear from The Brazilians who are second on the log and are now comfortable at the top of the PSL league.

Honestly speaking, Sundowns deserved to win the match. They controlled the game from the start till the end with Katlego Mashego getting unlucky with the ball at the goal posts.

Mashego failed to knock in several easy balls which could have seen The Brazilians go past Amakhosi with ease.

What really set Sundowns back was that they realised that they can actually win the match in the second half - that's when they really took the game to Chiefs.

Had they put the same pressure they started putting in around 57th minute of the game in the first half, we would be speaking of a different game altogether.

During a post match presser, Mosimane said that he was still building his team and that the odds were more with Chiefs since they are already a solid team.

He said: "We've got a young and new team, we are only 6 months old and played against a team that won double last season."