03SoccerWeek APRIL 01 – APRIL 07, 2010

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: James Cohen

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The business end of the season

FOOTBALL is really one unpredicta-ble sport. Nothing is ever a foregone conclusion in the beautiful game and that is the beauty of it. That is what makes it so interesting. The manner in which the English Premiership is unravelling as we speak is a prime example of the topsy-turvy nature of the game.

It is not so long ago that people were predicting the downfall of Man-chester United as a perennial Eng-lish and European superpower after the magnifi cent Cristiano Ronaldo was sold to the cash-splashing Real Madrid. United did not do enough to convince their doubters otherwise at the beginning of the campaign, as they showed plenty of signs of not coming to grips with the departure of their talismanic forward.

Chelsea were seen as the favour-ites on all fronts, the FA Premier League, FA Cup, Carling Cup and

UEFA Champions League, and they sure did fl y out of the traps as they did justice to their favourites tag.

Despite United’s uninspiring start to the season, I still maintained that League title’s and Continental cham-pionships in Europe are won in May and people should not count Chel-sea’s chicken’s before they hatch. You just never know what is going to happen in this game. People just laughed my words off as crazy.

However, since those murky days when we (I am a Manchester Unit-ed fan) lost to the likes of Burnley, Fulham and League Two side, Leeds United, the football gods have smiled happily upon the Red Devils as they look for their fourth consecutive Pre-mier League gong, 19th in all, and third successive UEFA Champions League Final appearance as Chel-sea’s season crumbles all around them. Out of the Champions League in the last 16, seemingly running

short of fuel in the fi erce race for the League title (despite thrashing Aston Villa 7-0 at the weekend) and facing a tricky FA Cup semi-fi nal at Wembley, Chelsea look as if they will end a season, that looked so promis-ing for the most part, empty handed.

Carlo Anceletti’s side was unset-tled by the Terry-Bridge saga, al-though they deny it, and the long term injury to powerful anchorman Michael Essien has not helped the Londoners’ cause at all.

Should Chelsea indeed end this term empty handed, it should be a lesson to all so-called early season favourites that it is not about how you start the season but rather how you fi nish it. Manchester United’s ex-perience for the run-in should stand them in good stead for the Premier League title. The Champions League is a different case, especially with Li-onel Messi’s Barcelona fi ring on all cylinders.

Liverpool fans protest against the club’s owners at the end of the Barclays Premier League match between Liverpool and Sunderland at Anfield on March 28

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Hopefully, Sir Alex Ferguson has an ace up his sleeve to help bring the Holy Grail to it’s rightful home, down Old Trafford way.Samkelo Mtshali

Bafana’s holiday

THE BRAZIL CAMP seems to be a holiday resort for coach Carlos Par-reira and his preliminary squad members. I wonder what impact the camp will have as some of his play-ers were only selected based on their popularity rather than on merit. Al-though, now that the under-perform-ing PSL players are away in Brazil, we are in for an exciting Telkom Knockout competition.

It’s a pity Mr Parreira slipped out of the country, thus denying more lo-cal players an opportunity to catch his eye. While in Brazil, does our na-tional coach have an opportunity to check on our overseas based players’ current form? Perhaps he doesn’t need to observe them. For some play-ers seem to be guaranteed a place in the Bafana Bafana squad, irrespec-tive of their poor form at their clubs.Matome Kubu

InterviewLeague, FA Cup, Carling Cup and in the last 16, seemingly running League, FA Cup, Carling Cup and in the last 16, seemingly running

(SMS charged at R1)

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