The enigma that is Ernst Middendorp

Ernst Middendorp deserves immense credit, to be fair, for taking the team to the summit at this early stage, though his demeanour is often that of a man who is bottom, and his public criticism of his own players rankles more than a little.

Chiefs have also, it must be said, been helped by a couple of bloopers from assistant referees in the last couple of games. with Lebo Manyama palpably offside when Lazarous Kambole’s shot was saved against Baroka FC, leaving him with a tap-in that should never have stood. AmaZulu, meanwhile, were denied a couple of goals by errant flags against Chiefs on Heritage Day, but these events tend to level themselves out over the course of a season. Of more concern is the general standard of refereeing, which has been pretty poor for as long as I can remember.

The South African Football Association, of course, control the referees in this country, but hand out punishments for poor officiating with unerring irregularity.

There is talk of the possibility of bringing VAR here, but my understanding is that it is simply too expensive an undertaking.

In any case, given what is happening with VAR in the English Premier League at the moment, it is completely possible that introducing VAR in South Africa would somehow only make the situation more shambolic.

Mamelodi Sundowns, were a long way from shambolic as they dismantled Cote D’ Or by a record 11-1 to reach the Caf Champions League group stages yet again on Friday evening.

It is testament to the professionalism of Pitso Mosimane’s side that they took the opportunity to dismantle the team from the Seychelles when they would have been forgiven for pulling out the deckchairs and having a lie-down on Friday after already winning the first leg 5-0.

Sundowns continue to set the standard for South African teams on the continent, and maybe this year they can go on and win the competition for a second time.

Gaston Sirino will need to be in sparkling form for that to happen, one feels, and he is one of the nominees in Phakaaathi’s Player of the Month competition on Page 10, where one lucky reader has a chance to walk away with R350 in airtime.

Sirino faces tough competition, however, from Kearyn Baccus of Kaizer Chiefs, Tshegofatso Mabasa of Orlando Pirates and Polokwane City’s Nicholas Motloung.

Motloung is doing superbly after leaving Kaizer Chiefs, but one player who hopes to still make his mark at Amakhosi is Kabelo Mahlasela, whose time so far has been badly disrupted by injury.
We speak to Mahlasela on Page 11 in our regular One-on-One feature.

Elsewhere in this week’s Phakaaathi, we get the latest from the camps of Mamelodi Sundowns, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, whose coach Rulani Mokwena launches a staunch defence of under-fire goalkeeper Joris Delle.

Delle certainly had a decent game against Chippa United, in Pirates’ only win so far under Mokwena, but has had seven goals smashed past him in the two games since, as Pirates continue to wobble in the 2019/20 campaign.

Few, indeed, would have predicted at the start of the season that seven games in, Chiefs would be top of the table, and Pirates eighth. Given where Amakhosi finished last season (ninth), a safe bet looked to be the other way round.

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