What's on Mthoko's mind?

Despite the Netherlands being South Africa's colonisers, I still appreciate the Dutch national football team. They are my fourth favourite national team after Brazil, Italy & Germany. I know a few players in the history of the Dutch national team & have seen them play so I decided to pick my ideal XI:  The only odd choices may be the excess of strikers & inclusion of van Persie on the wing as opposed to Robben but it's just a fictional line up. Don't attack me.  Compare with GOAL's best Dutch XI.

The game went as expected. I expected Argentina to try boss France out of the game but also expected France to sort of do the same & tire Argentina out. I expected a quiet game from Messi as an elder/spent force but the early penalty gave him some vigour. France was never going to beat Argentina at penalties. Hugo Lloris in the French team seems unsure at times whereas South American goalkeepers are known for being overconfident. The only way France could've won this game is through physicality & decisive play. I could see Deschamps tried to implement some tactics even though I'm not sure what he was going at... was Kingsley Coman really going to make a difference at the dying stages of the game? Was there even a game plan or maybe it was just a matter of winning the game how ever & no set method of play? If it was a less important occasion, France could've won comfortably but when stakes are high & history is on the line - the real characters come out. Well...

The Perfect African Football League? I just watched a video about this concept of clubs "farming" talent with global networks & thought, it's a good concept but just on too big a scale. The concept was proposed for an I. Y. L. Y.  men's professional league system before except that instead of having international talent scouting networks, this league would get it's talent from regional teams in a "good talent gets filtered up" system.  The main points to take away from this league are:  • Top tier league teams never get relegated. • Preseason skills challenge for individual players. • Top tier league teams/academies "govern" the regions sports talent & administration. • Player of the year is chosen by stats (formula used ensures less noticed positions like goalkeepers & defenders get an equal chance of winning). • Highest goals-per-game ratio gets award.  • Professionalised referee academy/union.  • Team of the year is b...

We all know that Brazil is one of the most populous countries in the world & their undisputed national sport is o futebol . Population is one of their advantages so I won't even list that as a point because there's nothing a smaller country can do about it. I've watched some FIFA World Cup history DVDs & know some of Brazil's footballing history. Brazil genuinely loves football hence they say, "Os Ingleses inventaram o futebol, os Brasileiros são mais bonitos." ("The English invented football, Brazilians mastered it."). So what points can we take from Brazil to ensure our countries/lands are, at least, a quarter as good as they are?  1) BALL CONTROL : One thing you'll notice about the majority of Brazilian footballers is that their technical ability is second to none, virtually everyone in the Brazilian men's national team can be a football freestyler. And, of course, the art of ginga . 2) FUTSAL POPULARITY : Futsal in Brazil is almos...

Today, on South African Twitter, we saw a sports news reporter disregard South Africa's football history when he tweeted "The PSL (South Africa's top tier league) is not a museum of past glory." I'm not much of a South African football fan but I do know quite a bit more than the average Joe on various club's histories, especially about the known clubs & personalities of South African football & do appreciate the Chiefs vs Pirates rivalry, dribbles & characters (N.B.: present-day South African football has little to no characters). South African football is far from ideal but it's what we grew up knowing. Growing up, I'd watch football teams & see the most talented & skillful individuals from all corners of the world assembled to make a team & we knew a guy was from a specific team & he plays this position at THAT team. Today, we have clubs bought by billionaires who can buy the best players from any corner of the world &...

I'm seeing a documentary programme on TV asking how South African football can bring fans to the stadium, I know there's something corrupt in South African football & there's a third force trying to kill the South African game. In fact, they've succeed in killing South African football. But since we're eternal optimists, we always want to find solutions for problems that will never be considered because the football bosses want to make money & happy fans are something they don't like for whatever reason but here are some ways I'd organise for there to be more fans at stadiums if I were a big, rich person employed by any league in the world.   - Cheerleaders: As men are usually fans of sport, what attracts men more than women in tights dancing? Simple biology to bring in male fans. - Mascots: Maybe this is more an American thing but the mascot is often great entertainment & fun for the kids.  - Comfort: Stadium must be hospitable, easily access...

For fans of KZN football, international tournaments on the African continent are rare. In fact, I don't remember any KZN club qualifying for the CAF Champions League  or CAF Confederations Cup . Except for the Durban Under-19 International tournament , the 2021-2022 version of the Champions League will be the first time KZN has ever entered into international club football. It would be wonderful winning the tournament on our first attempt but what are AmaZulu's chances realistically speaking?  A DREAM: One of the oldest clubs in South Africa with a chance of, finally, getting it's first African champions star. The draw for the groups hasn't been done yet but some of the teams that have already qualified & AmaZulu F. C. could face are: Wydad Casablanca, Al-Ahly (current champions), Espérance de Tunis, Étoile du Sahel, T. P. Mazembe, AS Maniema Union, Mamelodi Sundowns, Zesco United, Zanaco F. C., Horoya AC, CI Kamsar etc. Now, some of these teams are regu...