Schedule still a bother, but it is knockout final time again

The battle between Ryan Chapman and Benni McCarthy could be the highlight of the 2011 Telkom Knockout final on  10 December between Orlando Pirates and Bidvest Wits, with both having played a key role in their respective team’s success this past weekend.

Chapman had a hand in all three goals in Wits’ 3-0 victory against Santos, the People’s Team, in the semi-final of the Telkom Knockout.

Pirates won 3-1 against Golden Arrows in their semi-final, and afterwards, their coach, Julio Leal, was as defiant as ever: “In four-and-a-half-months since I became coach, we have won one important competition and we’re in the final of another,” Leal said.

Pirates came from a goal behind to beat Arrows.

Andile Jali and Isaac Chansa missed the Premier Soccer League match against Wits in which the rampant students romped to a convincing win.

Jali and Chansa proved to be a stabilising factor in the win against Arrows.

McCarthy hit the woodwork early on when he headed after a long-ball from Siyabona Sangweni. Later he received a cross from the right and created space, but shot wide.

Traditionally, the Buccaneers are a team with magnificent wingers who create havoc in enemy territory and with their crosses create chances for competent players in the 18 area, like McCarthy, who won a title with Porto through the use of a magnificent header.

But the wingers Tlou Segolela and Daine Clate did not cover themselves in glory in the semi-final, and perhaps that has been one of the problem areas in the PSL this season.

Pirates are eighth on the log. Leal said they had a couple of unfair and unlucky results and as the season progresses the Buccaneers will also do well in the league.

He will have to ignite a spark in the midfield and on the wing, where Segolela and Clate were mostly anonymous, otherwise it will be a mid-table struggler for most of the season.

Wits has had no problem with sparks. Chapman created the opener for Asive Langwe against Santos and scored the game’s second.

Chapman was understated and humble in victory. “It was a great performance by the team. We knew we had to forget about last weekend’s game (a 3-1 victory over Pirates) and concentrate on this one because it was going to be very difficult,” he said.

Chapman also scored a brace against Pirates in the previous PSL match.

The former Santos-striker scored six goals in eight

league starts for the Students in 2010/2011.

In his first eight league starts in 2011/2012, he has equalled last season’s statistics with six goals in eight starts.

"I'm doing well because I'm playing regular football… It has helped me in a sense that I have been able to maintain some consistency, because I play on a regular basis. I don't think much has changed about my game, except that I play regularly," he said to www.kickoff-com.

However, the 24-year-old believes he may maintain the consistency if he doesn't "get ahead" of himself.

"I have been getting a lot of phone calls of late, but I shouldn't get ahead of myself. I must just do my best," Chapman says.

McCarthy can be a menacing presence near the goal, but the woes of Pirates have become a characteristic of South African football – the inability to find the strikers with sharp, accurate crosses.

And as long as the Pirates-wingers do not feed McCarthy with useful short crosses, there won’t be much goalmouth action by the dangerous marksman.

Perhaps this will change on  10 December when these two giants meet in the final of the Telkom Knockout competition.

One aspect of the Telkom Knockout that might be revisited is the scheduling, as some clubs only played three PSL-matches in a month because of incessant breaks between matches.

Gavin Hunt, SuperSport United Coach, told the Sunday Times he was frustrated after SuperSport’s early loss in the competition.

“It is very difficult to train the players. Do you drop them or do you increase the intensity. We have not been playing enough matches and the PSL need to dethink their schedule. You get a long break and then you play two games in four days.”

Martin Stekelenberg, coach of Ajax Cape Town, says the old-fashioned model should be used of playing cup matches during the week, to open up the weekends for the league.