If you are good enough you are old enough

An interesting thought has been through my mind again this week. You see the Springboks lost again, albeit after what I thought was a very bad call in not seeing the forward pass before the lack of evidence try for Richie McCaw, and my thought is if ever there was a time to try some youngsters out it would be now. If the full strength Boks lose on Saturday morale will be at an all time low and though some will say look at our season in 2006 when we got annihilated, yes, but there were also some players rested. If we selected some fringe players and they lost a close game it would give hope. Some youngsters who have impressed me in the currie cup include Elton Jantjies from the Lions, Coenie Oosthuizen from the Cheetahs and Pat Lambie from the Sharks. Please note Province and Bulls fans, I only watch the highlights for your teams unless you are playing Cheetahs. I also wouldn’t mind seeing Robert Ebersohn given a chance and we all know Lionel Mapoe (Sharks or Cheetahs, who knows!) is definitely in the thinking of P-Divvy. I also think we would have been justified to Aplon and De Jongh in the starting line up, but Im just a blogger not the national coach. All I do know is that come Saturday, whoever is in the springbok team will get my cheers.


On a similar note, as an Arsenal fan we have under Arsene Wenger become a team who believe that if you are good enough you are old enough. Case in point is the obvious Cesc Fabregas who played regular first team action from the age of 16. This is being shown again through the likes of Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs and even Nicklas Bendtner. You see Mr Wenger does not look at age, but rather quality. This worked wonders with Sir Alex and his boys in the early 90’s. The reason i bring this up is simply due to the new home grown ruling in England. I like the rule and the way it benefits youngsters. I really see more young stars coming through, I mean two 21 year old Englishman scoring hat-tricks this weekend is testament to this. However what this will do to the established players is one place the system still needs justifying. Craig Bellamy at Cardiff, doesn’t sound right.


I recently attended the South African Under 16 Boys Inter Provincial Hockey Tournament, or Nationals for short. I was the manager of the Southern Gauteng B side. In the A side we had a 14 year old boy who I wish I could have had this player in the teams I was coaching a few years back. At the age of 14 (turning 15 this year) the youngster made the South African Under 16 Team. He is good enough, therefore he is old enough.


A quick recap of the big sports on the weekend.
The Springboks lost and New Zealand regained the tri nations that they last held in 2008. The Currie Cup saw two humdingers in Bulls – Griquas and Pumas – Lions, while the Cheetahs showed the hapless Leopards are out of their league and the Sharks became the first team to beat Province. I would still venture as far as to say that will be the final this year.
We also saw 38 goals in the premier league second weekend with some scores resembling tennis more than football, 6-0 6-0 6-0! Speaking of tennis, Fed Express won his first tournament since January and quickly people are proclaiming him as US Open favourite, but I think he will fall short again!
Caster Semenya continued her brilliant return by remaining undefeated with a scintillating time. The MTN 8 also happened with Sundowns losing the most ridiculous penalty shootout i have ever seen. Chiefs and Pirates have been drawn in the double legged semi and yet another Soweto derby serves to undermine the value of this derby game. I mean they are now guaranteed to meet 5 times this season with two cups still to play! Seriously!


Jabu's Sports star of the week

Andy Caroll. The newcastle number 9 produced a performance that the previous number 9 would have been proud of (Alan Shearer) in scoring a hat-trick against Aston Villa in the Toons comfortable 6-0 win!



Jabu's Picks for this weekend
Lets quickly look at last week, I got the SA vs NZ game wrong, but the Sharks and Kaizer Chiefs victories correct. So can i better 2 out of 3 this week?
Chelsea to concede for the first time this season
Frans Steyn to kick a 55+ metre penalty as the springboks finally get a win
Red Bull Racing to qualify in pole position in Belgium.


Closing Note
To all those that have nominated me for the SA Blog Awards thank you very much. To those that haven’t, if you enjoy the blog please do so. Just follow the link in the top right corner. If you don’t like it, thats fine too. May i recommend you go onto the SA Blog Awards website and see some of the other great blogs there. I will give a personnel recommendation to http://www.paddlesweep.net/ it is truly a great read!
Until next week,
JABU!

Whats happening in Sport

Sorry for the delay my people. I got somewhat sidetracked! Lets have a look at whats been happening in the world of sport

GOLF

The final major of the year took place and the unfancied German Martin Kaymer won. This of course was without controversy as Dustin Johnson was given a two shot penalty that meant he could not partake in the playoff! Now just for you to understand, he was punished for grounding his club in a bunker. Now in fairness this has always been a rule, but when seeing the replay you too might be somewhat surprised at that being called a bunker. No South Africans in the top 10 though, so the elation of the last major was not quite matched and you have to start to wonder if Ernie will ever win another major.

In other golfing news, the 8 automatic qualifiers for the Ryder cup are now decided. For the first time in his professional career Tiger Woods failed to qualify. He most likely will still get a captains pick form Corey Pavin, but its hard not to wonder how badly he has fallen. Tiger Woods is no longer the hurricane force that he once was.

CRICKET

So in a brief note about cricket, South African captain Graeme Smith has decided to resign from the T20 side and will step down as ODI captain post 2011 world cup. I for a long time have felt that we should treat our teams separately for T20 specifically and think Johan Botha will make a great captain. If Smith is on form and warrants a place then let him be there, but an out of form Smith as captain can hurt a team.

Also the Airtel Champions League is poised to start here in South Africa. I think this makes us the only country to have hosted all of the big 3 T20 events. The World T20, The IPL and the champions league. Once again this just underlines the brilliance of South African in sport hosting

SOCCER / FOOTBALL

Well the great thing was that Bafana Bafana followed up their world cup victory over France with a very creditable win over World Cup fan favourites Bhaghana. Pitso Mosimane, definitely my choice for Bafana coach kept the principles and played the players who deserved a game. Two strikers was a lot more positive and Katlego Mphela continually underlines his brilliance for the national squad.

Furthermore the English premiership and Scottish Premier League got underway this weekend. Chelsea demolished Wigan, United beat an average Newcastle, Arsenal were gifted a point by Pepe Reina, Moneybags Man City were lucky to get a draw at a team with no class. But the story of the week was definitely Blackpool back in the premier league for the first time in 40 odd years winning away from home 4-0. They are a club that stick to their principles and have a salary cap more in line with the 3rd division but what a success story! Rangers and Celtic kicked off with wins, but far from anything close to resembling comfortable. For all the goals of the premier league this week click here

And of course special mention goes this week to Spurs. Young boys 3-2 spurs! LMAO

TENNIS

Andy Murray beat Federer and Nadal in claiming the Toronto Masters. But most importantly South African no 1 Kevin Anderson has moved up to 76th in the world. It is great credit to the hard work he has put in. He is now poised to receive an automatic qualification into the US Open. Truly great signs for the South African Davis Cup team

RUGBY

Possibly the greatest captain in Rugby Union history is set to win his 100th cap in front of a crowd of 90 000. I think any debate about the form of John Smit needs to be set aside and we all need to give respect to the man who every other country wish they had. I hope we can win the world cup next year and he can bow out with the ultimate achievement! In a weeks time another great servant of south african rugby will get his 100th cap at the most appropriate stadium. Congratulations to both John Smit and Victor Matfield on the brilliance of the careers.

The boks tackle the all blacks on Saturday and i can see the Boks scraping a win. Of course hopefully we don't have anyone sent off in the first 10 minutes.

The Currie cup reaches the halfway stage this week with a humdinger of a game in Durban. I think that the Sharks might take it this week, but it could be narrow.

I also would like to vote my Currie cup star of the week last week (this is a feature i will likely add again next week), it has to be Elton Jantjies. The young flyhalf broke my Cheetah supporting heart with a display that strangely brought back the joy of Carlos Spencer. This boy has a great future, but i hope he stays at the lions for a while longer to reap the benefits of training with "King Carlos"

JABU'S PICK THREE FOR THIS WEEKEND

As mentioned already the first one will be in the Currie cup. The Sharks to beat Province by less than seven.

My Second is going to be for the ultimate bore draw in a 0-0 for Man City vs Liverpool.

Lastly i am going with Kaizer Chiefs to beat Bloem Celtic by two in the Quarters of the MTN8.

All eyes will be on Soweto on Saturday, but sport will be everywhere this weekend.

In sport of course!

JABU

The Jabu Predictions for 2010/11 EPL

As the English premier league is a meagre week away now, its that time of the year when I look to put my neck on the line and make a prediction of the EPL. So here it is from first to last, my pick for how the season will finish:

1. Arsenal - Yes, yes, im a gunners fan. But that aside, we went close last year and have pulled off two good signings, i think this could be a great year for the gunners.

Key Player: Robin van Persie (if he stays fit, he will score 20+)

2. Man Utd - wow, isnt Javier Hernandez good. Its quite scary imagining United pairing him with Looney Rooney. I think Sir Alex has proven he can get average players to perform (think Butt, neville, O'Shea and Fletcher), combined with the quality of the up front men they will be the biggest threat for me

Key Player: Wayne Rooney (its not only coincidence that he played badly and England played badly)

3. Chelsea - Im not impressed by Chelsea. i think they are distinctly average and yes they peaked at the end of last season, however none of their stars had a good world cup and are looking very much like world cup hangover could leave them lagging early on in the season. They are ageing at a scary rate and if Cech gets injured they are in big trouble as Turnbull has Flapianski skill unrivalled!

Key Player: Didier Drogba (he was the catalyst last year)

4. Liverpool - I am a huge fan of Roy Hodgson and believe that Liverpool (should torres stay fit) will regain their place as a member of the big 4.

Key player: Fernando Torres (much like van persie, needs an injury free season)

5. Man City - its only a matter of time before they break into the top 4, however they make very wierd signings! I still believe Mancini is the wrong man for Man City. He is too defensive! I also am very interested to see who they have to get rid of due to the new 25 player ruling.

Key Player: Yaya Toure (25 million for a defensive mid, he better marshall that defence like a fat kid guarding the last piece of cake)

6. Everton - Again, i am a very big fan of David Moyes and the work he has done at Everton. In Cahill, Arteta and Pienaar they have players that would fit into most teams starting 11. In Tim Howard they have a solid shot stopper who has definately grown since leaving United.

Key Player: Steven "Schillo" Pienaar (Mzansi's best)

7. Aston Villa - I think they have a good squad and should they hold onto James Milner they will be there and thereabouts again. They unfortunatley will not progress due to the lack of financial muscle.

Key Player: Richard Dunne (he was brilliant in defence with Collins last year, if they can keep it that miserly again they might push for higher honours)

8. Tottenham - Many will wonder how i can put them this low, but its simple. Spurs have proven over and over again that they can not cope with a European campaign. Should they fail to qualify they might be better off, but i would put an outside bet on them losing all 6 games after champ league group games (even if its against Blackpool!)

Key Player: Gomes (The Brazilian shot stopper kept them in it in the back half of the season last year and will need to perform similar heroics again this year)

9. Birmingham - They are a dirty team that ruined Eduardo's career. Their fans have no class and their manager is a ginger! but with Carson Yeung's money they are going to be a comfortable mid table team!

Key Player: Barry Ferguson (he has enjoyed his return to England much more under the ginger guidance)

10. West Ham - Avram Grant's performance as a manager in England is simply outstanding. West Ham are also free from the financial ridicule of the prior year with Gold and Sullivan's money and i see them returning to mid table where they belong.

Key Player: Scott Parker (the captain has the ability to inspire those around him)

11. Stoke City - They are a team that don't lose many home games and that has been the foundation of their success. I don't see much changing this season, expect them to rely heavily on Rory Delap's throw ins again

Key Player: Rory Delap (even though he cant play football, that throw in is lethal, as can be seen that teams would rather concede a corner!)

12. Fulham - It doesn't matter what Mark Hughes does this year, its going to seem boring in comparison to last seasons epic Europa league run that got manager Hodgson a bigger job!

Key Player: Bobby Zamora (possibly should have been included in the England shambles of a world cup squad!)

13. Blackburn - Sam Allardyce will always have an average team, but hey thats Allardyce. They will punch, kick, hijack and possibly shoot you if you have the ball, but it works for them.

Key Player: Paul Robinson (He will have lots of work to do. His team will also only score one or two in a game meaning a clean sheet is imperative)

14. Sunderland - I think they are seriously going to miss last seasons captain Lorik Cana, they have replaced him with a bunch of unknown players and it could see them involved in an ugly scrap to stay up

Key Player: Darren Bent (he scored 50% or more of Sunderlands goals last year, one with the assist of a beach ball!)

15. Newcastle - The team that were too good and too big to go down, really were too good to go down. In history that will be one of the biggest disappointments in EPL. They should stay up this season unless there are more manager-go-rounds

Key Player: Jonas Gutierrez (the Argentinean had a decent world cup and is good on both defense and attack)

16. Bolton - They look better under Coyle, but i still think there is some time to go before he completely changes their style into his. There are rumours that they could sign Tom Cleverly on loan from United, that would be a great coup.

Key Player: Gary Cahill (There is a reason a lot of big clubs are interested in the Englishman and he has a sweet shot on him too!)

17. West Brom - I like their style and for that i will give them the nod over Wolves. The perennial yo-yo club really need to do it ugly and make sure they stay up!

Key Player: Roberto di Matteo (he holds the record for the quickest FA Cup final goal, but can his limited management skills keep WBA up?)

18. Wolves - Mick McCarthy is a terrible commentator, but not too bad a manager. Wolves were never likely to stay up last season, but they did and that is to his credit!

Key Player: Kevin Doyle (a player who has the right qualities for a team in the bottom half of the premiership. A good fighter and great leader of the line!)

19. Wigan - they simply don't deserve to be in the premiership. losing 9-1 and 8-0 last year is poor. they may even come last.

Key Player:Hugo Rodallega (His ten goals last year was the only surviving factor)

20. Blackpool - They should enjoy the experience, but i cant see them doing anything fancy. i think Cardiff would have been better suited to the premiership, but Blackpool were entertaining in the playoff. Hopefully they do better than the last playoff winners Burnley!

Key Player: Brett Ormerod (its his goal that got them up, can his goals keep them up?)

Thats all for now!

JABU