Will Alex’s ‘Mr Meat’ cruise on this meaty wave he’s on?
JOBURG – Alex's former PSL Footballer of the Season Lebogang 'Mr Meat' Manyama has been nominated in three categories of the #PSLAwards20.
Besides being nominated for the Goal of the Season, Alexandra nimble-footed footballer Lebogang ‘Mr Meat’ Manyama, who’s riding the crest of a meaty wave with the Soweto Glamour Boys, has been added to two other category nominations for the prestigious #PSLAwards20.
Manyama, the former Premier Soccer League Footballer of the Season whose surname means ‘meat’, has also been nominated in the former Absa Premiership Player’s Player of the Season, along with Hlompho Kekana and his Mamelodi Sundowns teammate Themba Zwane.
The crafty Kaizer Chiefs midfielder has also been added to the nomination list for the Absa Premiership Midfielder of the Season. Mr Meat will contest this category with a former teammate at Cape Town City, Thabo Nodada and one of his nemeses in the Player’s Player of the Season category, Themba Zwane of Masandawana.
All of Alexandra are keeping their fingers crossed that Mr Meat wins at least one if not more in the various categories he’s been nominated in and continues to hoist the Alex flag high. Masandawana, who have won the league three times in a row, seems poised to sweep the boards in this year’s awards after they were nominated in every category available except in the most promising rookies category.
Hot property on the year’s football calendar is non-other than Tembisan midfielder, Zwane, popularly known to his Masandawanan fans as ‘Mshishi’. He has been nominated in three categories: Footballer of the Season, Players’ Player of the Season and Midfielder of the Season.
His teammate and captain Kekana is a contender in the Goal of the Season voting process and has been nominated twice for Players’ Player of the Season and Telkom Player of the Tournament, while their evergreen Ugandan keeper, Denis Onyango faces stiff opposition from Chiefs’ Nigerian keeper Daniel Akpeyi and Ronwen Williams of SuperSport United. Former Masandawana coach Pitso ‘Jingles’ Mosimane, who has left the Brazilians for greener pastures in the desert in Egypt as head coach of Africa’s most successful club, Al Ahly, will labour to beat strong contenders for the Coach of the Season in the form of booted AmaKhosi coach Ernst ‘The German Shepherd’ Middendorp and Eric Tinkler of Maritzburg United.
Tinkler is accredited with rejuvenating ‘The Team of Choice’ from being the whipping boys of the premiership and turning them into a formidable soccer machine to be reckoned with.The German Shepherd’s nomination comes in the wake of keeping Chiefs at the top of the league for the entire season, only to be swept aside by Mosimane’s Masandawana in the last game of the season to lift the Absa Premiership trophy.
Having won the league three times in a row, twice pulling the rug under the feet of contenders, Mosimane is expected to come out of the nomination smiling all the way to an Egyptian bank, having won the last two consecutive awards. Whether it’s going to be three in a row remains to be seen. The virtual #PSLAwards20, which for the first time in its history will be without the glitz and glamour that has always been associated with the awards, will be held on 22 October from 8pm.
In this year’s Footballer of the Season category, which is also a voting system but only open to coaches of the Premier Division, has four nominees instead of the normal three after the players were tied on votes and could not be separated even after using the provisions in the rules to eliminate names. The Players’ Player of the Season category is voted for by the players in the Premier Division but players are not allowed to vote for their own teammate.
Full List of nominees:
- Footballer of the Season: Samir Nurkovic of Kaizer Chiefs; Peter Shalulile of the now defunct Highlands Park; Gaston Sirino of Mamelodi Sundowns; and his teammate, Themba Zwane.
- Absa Premiership Players’ Player of the Season: Hlompho Kekana of Mamelodi Sundowns: his teammate Themba Zwane; and Alexandra’s own star Lebogang ‘Mr Meat’ Manyama of Kaizer Chiefs.
- Absa Premiership Coach of the Season: Ernst Middendorp of Kaizer Chiefs; Pitso ‘Jingles’ Mosimane of Mamelodi Sundowns; and Eric Tinkler of Maritzburg United.
- Absa Premiership Young Player of the Season: Bongokuhle Hlongwane of Maritzburg United; Goodman Mosele of Baroka FC; and Sphesihle Maduna of AmaZulu.
- Absa Premiership Goalkeeper of the Season: Nigerian Daniel Akpeyi of Kaizer Chiefs; Ugandan Denis Onyango of Mamelodi Sundowns; and local lad Ronwen Williams of SuperSport United.
- Absa Premiership Defender of the Season: Daniel Cardoso of Kaizer Chiefs; Rushine De Reuck of Maritzburg United; and Motjeka Madisha of Mamelodi Sundowns.
- Absa Premiership Midfielder of the Season: Lebogang Manyama of Kaizer Chiefs; Thabo Nodada of Cape Town City; and Themba Zwane of Mamelodi Sundowns.
- MTN8 Last Man Standing: Clayton Daniels; Bradley Grobler; and Ronwen Williams, all of SuperSport United. Telkom Knockout Player of the Tournament: Judas Moseamedi of Maritzburg United; Gaston Sirino of Mamelodi Sundowns; and his teammate and skipper Hlompho Kekana.
- Nedbank Cup Most Promising Player: Keletso Makgalwa of Mamelodi Sundowns; Evidence Makgopa of Baroka FC; and Sifiso Ngobeni of Bloemfontein Celtic. All of them are U23s.
- Nedbank Cup Player of the Tournament: Terrence Dzvukamanja of the now-defunct Bidvest Wits; Victor Letsoalo of Bloemfontein Celtic; and Motjeka Madisha of Mamelodi Sundowns.
