What's on Mthoko's mind?

As AFCON is happening, I thought I should do a list of my Top 15 best footballers in African football history. Based on performance & accolades:  1) Samuel Eto'o 🇨🇲 2) Roger Milla 🇨🇲 3) Eusébio 🇲🇿 4) Essam El-Hadry 🇪🇬 5) Mohammed Salah 🇪🇬 6) Sadio Mané 🇸🇳 7) Abednigo Ngcobo 🇸🇿 8) Michael Essien 🇬🇭 9) Didier Drogba 🇨🇮 10) Rigobert Song 🇨🇲 11) Emmanuel Adebayor 🇹🇬 12) Jay-Jay Okocha 🇳🇬 13) Vincent Enyeama 🇳🇬 14) Laurent Pokou 🇨🇮 15) Kalusha Bwalya 🇿🇲 The names on this list are probably expected but some odd choices explained;  • Essam El-Hadry is an AFCON legend & applied his trade in diverse lands, he has the second most appearances for the Egyptian national team.  • Abednigo Ngcobo played during a time when black players in South Africa couldn't represent South Africa so a Black XI was chosen once for a one off occasion where they beat Argentina. He's probably the best footballer to come out of South Africa.  • Drogba at numb...

As health methods get better & recovery gets easier for athletes, we find many athletes can push their limits further. I noticed that in some longer distance running events, especially middle distance, some athletes are virtually sprinting them at times i. e. long, brisk strides. You'd think 800 metres or 1500 metres is not possible to sprint without getting a heartattack or a getting a giant cramp but I think it is possible. You load your body with electrolytes, essential oils & water then sprinting 1500 metres is simple to sprint. Marathons & ultra-marathons will always be a jog, slogging around corners trying to keep pace but 800 metres is fairly simple to sprint flat out at short distance pace.

I, genuinely, loved the game from the beginning so when I got to highschool it was the main sport I wanted to participate in as well as athletics. I was interested in soccer but didn't see it as something I wanted to play at the time. So in 2002 up to 2003, I was loitering around basketball practice with the older guys who soon went to the first team & I was told to recruit some U16 team players because I was the only one. I got three guys & we were joined by a further four guys a short while later, we had the U16 team. At first, I could barely do handles or a layup at 13 years along with some of the other guys that were joining the team. I practiced alone until my handling got good enough for me to play point guard. It's easier when there's a basketball court at home away from school facilities where you can practice whenever you feel like. The problem was the incredible pressure & anxiety I often got when I played some home games & one or two a...

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.

Before some get offended that I'm writing about something I know nothing about again, please take a look at all my social media... a part of my world virtually revolves around sport. I'll watch anything sports related if it's worth my time watching from the Olympics, EFC, FIFA World Cup, various football leagues around the world & basketball... so I think I would know what fans want & how sport can benefit a land.  One mistake we make in Africa in terms of our sport is over-dependence on the outside world & lack of interest in making our local sports better &, if possible, the best in the world. What the big sports entertainment franchises do around the world is simple, they market the game & capitalise on the hype which earns them some monetary or other return. The team headquarters have a shop & shirts of the legends of the team are sold & not shirts of currently active players. It doesn't take much to make a good sports entertainment produ...

I believe KwaZulu can be in Top 10 in FIBA Africa rankings. With a development structure that spans all schools & a sponsored league that, in time, could rival the best in the world - KwaZulu could rule the basketball world. This game (basketball) could replace rugby & rugby sevens would be our preferred form of rugby like Shujaa of Kenya & made more popular than the fifteen-man Boer nationalist game. In our regional sport academy structures , we could have a Thekwini-based Savages F. C. academy that would have a basketball team in our national league that consists of local players & a four-player quota of players from North America (N.B.: No teams get relegated in the top tier.) The rest of the academies & teams would rely on their local population for talent as usual. Of course, netball can be considered a form of basketball but it lacks the excitement both in following & in play to be as popular or as marketable as basketball. We could make a poli...

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...

The most popular sport in the world is undoubtedly football/soccer, which is why FIFA has more members than the United Nations. The second biggest sport in the world, due to it's large following in India, is cricket. But looking at registered players' numbers that I got from various sources including Wikipedia & the FIBA website  , I find that volleyball is the most participated in/played sport in the word with around 998 million registered players & badminton has 200 million. To me, this means the average volleyball player would need to be around five times better at their sport than an average badminton player at badminton to reach similar amounts of success.  The Top 5 list: 1) 998 million -  Volleyball 2) 400 million -  Basketball 3) 300 million -  Table Tennis 4) 242 million -  Soccer 5) 200 million -  Badminton  In South Africa, we live under the illusion that the national rugby team is more successful than the national football tea...

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...

Many countries have tried & failed to take the title of World's Best Basketball Nation from the USA, not even Canada who made the game are capable of matching the USA. Yugoslavia were probably the second best basketball nation in the world after the USA before disintegration. Currently, Spain are FIBA Basketball World Cup champions but the USA are still Olympic champions. I think Spain's success is down to their belief that their nation can , more importantly, Spanish blood can more than actual ability or talent because pound-for-pound USA likely has more talent than Spain & USA still leads the FIBA rankings . Taller & more athletic countries tend to do well in basketball hence Nigeria & Brazil are among the best in the world but with organised team sports, it takes more than athleticism & physique to be victorious. So what can a country do to succeed following the USA blueprint?  1) TALENT IDENTIFICATION STRUCTURES : I've never been to the USA but I...

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 &...

Perhaps the best sports are sports that also help in your real life. So with this in mind, we must classify all ball sports as mere tests in hand-eye coordination. Running, swimming, climbing, combat sports (i. e. kickboxing incl. MMA & grappling) & powerlifting are sports that will help you in real life because kicking & catching a ball aren't really things you do in real life .  So a nation could focus on (by order of importance): 1) running, 2) powerlifting, 3) combat sports, 4) swimming & lastly 5) climbing before other indigenous games & global sports. Of course today, there are popular sports that the youth enjoy & the older generations enjoy watching but if we want to keep things honest, the five abovementioned sporting events are the only true events necessary for a nation's sports sector & general public to maintain health. These sports could be compulsory for physical education class at schools until matriculation with a certain level of ...

I consider this invention in this blog the most basic multisport event . Having participated in biathlon (running & swimming) before, multisport events with "survival" aspects have grown on me so this is what could be the ULTIMATE ATHLETIC EVENT that any able-bodied person could participate in because it requires little to no equipment. a) Two events in the running in the order 1) 1500 m &  2) 100 m run . b) Typical Olympic 3) climbing event.  c) Swimming event: 4) 200 m swim & 5) 50 m swim . Both freestyle. This multisport event could include javelin & be a sextathlon or kickboxing & wrestling (grappling) for a national TV game show version.  The event would be done in the order:   1) 1500 m run  2) 100 m sprint  3) climbing  4) 200 m swim  5) 50 m swim  6) javelin or kickboxing/Olympic wrestling (optional)  Two hour intervals between each event for athletes to rest.

I did a list of best AmaZulu F. C. starting XI in history & decided why not just do a list of my own personal favourite Top 7 Zulu footballers. Here they are:  7) Mabhuti Khanyeza : This is the second best goalscorer in the PSL era of South African football with over 100 goals in the top tier of South African football. He's also won some titles during his career.  6) Lucas "Rhoo" Radebe : This is one of the more better known footballers worldwide from South Africa. He was the captain of Leeds United in the EPL. He's played in the UEFA Champion's League, played in the African Cup of Nations & South Africa's top tier league.  5) Sibusiso " Rhee " Zuma : Was a prolific scorer during his days in the top tier of South African football playing for Orlando Pirates averaging a goal every two games. He is most famous for the bicycle kick goal he scored while playing for F. C. Copenhagen & was once considered as one of the Top 30 best footballe...

Something closer to home...  Starting XI: 1) Ayanda Dlamini (30 years) | Sekhukhune United F. C   2) Mbaliso Mpofana | Jomo Cosmos development  3) Ntobeko Miya (27 years) | Real Kings  4) Phumlani Dlamini (33 years) | Manzini Wanderers  5) Percyvell Nkabinde (28 years) | T. S. Sporting  6) Mthokozisi Mpofana (32 years) | I. Y. iMpofana   7) Jabulani Mzizi (31 years) | Orlando Pirates F. C. development  8) Lindani Nkabinde (24 years) | Baroka F. C.  9) Mondli Miya (31 years) | Black Leopards   10) Thabiso Nkabinde | Tjakastad Junior Shepard F. C.  11) Cosmas Mzizi (26 years) | TTM  In 4-2-3-1 (4-5-1) formation: 

Disclaimer : This is not me forcing my ideology on anyone, this is simply me stating how a possible "best Zulu national team" would line up on this day, 29 December 2021.  Seeing as it's almost time for AFCON & maybe I'm getting a little FOMO in not having a team representing my nation. I thought, why not do a fantasy selection of a possible Zulu selection should a Zulu state  exist & qualified for AFCON 2021 in Cameroon.  The full squad:    1) Sifiso Mlungwana  2) Thamsanqa Mkhize  3) Sibusiso Mabiliso  4) Thulani Hlatshwayo  5) Buhle Mkhwanazi  6) Andile Jali  7) Siyethemba Sithebe  8) Bongani Zungu  9) Dino Ndlovu  10) Sibusiso Vilakazi  11) Themba Zwane  12) Siyabonga Mbatha  13) Sifiso Hlanti  14) Siphesihle Ndlovu  15) Bongi Ntuli  16) King Ndlovu  17) Philani Zulu  18) Sipho Mbule  19) Ndumiso Mabhena  Possible starting XI:  I'd mak...

This is just a comparison between four of the most of the most well-know black identities in the world. Just a measure of speed, strength & wealth.  Speed: Fastest black American is Tyson Gay with a time of 9.69 seconds in the 100 metre sprint. Fastest Caribbean is Usian Bolt with a time of 9.58 seconds. Fastest Zulu is Thandolwenkosi Dlodlo with a personal best of 10.08 seconds over 100 metres. Fastest West African is Nigerian Olusoji Fasuba with a personal best of 9.85 seconds in 100 metres.  Winner: Caribbean Strength: Strongest black Usonian is Mark Henry who could deadlift 420 kg, strongest black Caribbean man is Karel Mars who could deadlift 312.5 kg, strongest Zulu man is Thobelani Mabaso who can deadlift 385 kg, strongest West African is Cheick "Iron Biby" Sanou who can deadlift 307.5 kg.  Winner: Black Usonians Money: Richest black Usonian is Robert Smith who is said to have a net worth of US$ 5 billion. Richest black Caribbean is allegedly B...

Just thought I should do a little blog on the origins of various sports brands & their interesting & not so interesting origins.  Puma was made by brother of Adidas founder Rudolf Dassler.  Nike is a well-known & popular Usonian sports brand. They are sponsors of some of the most famous sports athletes in the world as well as USA's soccer, basketball & Olympic teams. They originally started off making running shoes for track athletes in the USA. Nike is the Greek goddess of victory .  Adidas is a play on the founders name, Adolf Dassler. They are the most popular German sports brand in the world. Adidas is the kit sponsor of the German national team & football club, Bayern Munich. Umbro is a famous British sports brand, they were made popular when they were the kit makers for Brazil's national football team.  Reebok is another British athletic brand that is po...

I, recently, discovered that anthropologists can tell from a skeleton what race an individual is & what age they were. This then, obviously, debunks the theory that race is skin deep. It is, in fact, bone deep. Black people are claimed to have smaller brains  to add to this new racial divide created by science.  The list of characteristics that are said to make black people better at sports more than other races are:  • Higher percentage of fast twitch muscles.  • Longer arm length.  • Longer hands.  • Faster patellar tendon (knee) reflexes.  • Higher centre of gravity (i. e. more spring in their step).  • More muscle, less fat.  • Broader shoulders, narrower hips.  • 3 - 19% more testosterone.  • Greater bone density.  I know some other races get jealous  of the fact that black people are on average athletically superior but every race has it's own thing that they're good at. On a more personal...