So the Compact Cup kicks off this weekend.
When PSL chairman Irvin Khoza announced it last month, it was a moerse anticlimax.
The PSL had a klomp other things to worry about and South African football fans were pretty dikbek after Bafana Bafana’s road to the Qatar World Cup ended in Ghana.
We’d been kicked off the park by the Black Stars and punished with a penalty that should never have been.
And Fifa made it worse by dismissing Safa’s appeal for a replay.
Fans were growing impatient that they still couldn’t return to local football matches and we were looking at an extended break due to an Africa Cup of Nations tournament Bafana failed to qualify for.
And then Omicron came to ruin Christmas. Ja nee, it’s been bleak.
All local fans had was “an expanded version of the Carling Black Label Cup” to look forward to. A distraction that’s basically a live-action fantasy league for fans to pick their favourite players.
But guess what? Fans have nogal embraced it. For whatever reasons.
Maybe it’s boredom. Maybe there is more to SA football than Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates or the billionaire boys club in Mamelodi.
Maybe manne got more airtime to waste. Who knows.
But for footballers who are just sitting at home playing Fifa, it’s been a godsend. The manne smaak to dala.
And those players picked by the fans can’t wait to get back on the pitch.
The Cape region’s stars will be representing Coastal United – a boring name ja. But the talent on show are far from bot.
Coach Steve Barker will take the reins and knows that he has got a lekker solid defence ahead of goalscoring goalkeeper Oscarine Masuluke in Robyn Johannes and Taariq Fielies.
The pairing will be reunited having played together when Cape Town City were formed in 2016 and will link up in a back four with Bafana fullbacks, leftback Terrence Mashego and rightback Denwin Farmer.
In midfield, City hothead Mpho Makola and Mogakolodi Ngele will join up with Zambian general Nathan Sinkala and Thabo Nodada.
Sinkala and Nodada’s potential combination has coach Barker dreaming.
And across the tournament, the quartet is by the far the most balanced, with Sinkala adding steel to the ball players around him.
Up front, they have Bafana striker Evidence Makgopa, who is a proven goalscorer and will hold up play to invite the likes of Ngele, Nodada and Makola to join the attack.
Makgopa will be partnered by one of the stars of the campaign in Stellies speedster Ashley du Preez, who has a fanboy in the team.
City midfielder Nodada says he can’t wait to use Du Preez’s pace to hurt their semifinal opponents Dinaledi – the northern Gauteng and Limpopo combination side.
City’s highly-rated teenaged midfielder Luphumlo Sifumba will be looking to impress Barker, who isn’t scared of giving a promising laaitie a kans to shine.
At 16, the ace from Philippi is keen to show why he is nicknamed Kaka, after the 2007 Ballon d’Or winner and AC Milan legend.
Tomorrow
Semifinal 1: Coastal United vs Dinaledi (3pm)
Semifinal 2: Warriors vs Amabutho (6pm)
January 29
3rd/4th Playoff (Noon)
Final: Winner Semifinal 1 vs Winner Semifinal 2 (2pm)