A brace, and Luther Dala takes the afternoon — 8.69
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Luther Dala provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A mark of 7.85 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about SuperSport United and Bidvest Wits in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Luther Ngcobo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kermit Furman, and the manager let it.
Match17 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for SuperSport United. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Luther Ngcobo at his very best
Teboho Zwane was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Luther Ngcobo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. SuperSport United will try very hard not to make too much of it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Itumeleng Mokotjo did not need any: 8.32, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SuperSport United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑1 win over Chippa United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 12 actions, 7.00, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Marked 8.15 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The goal that put Chippa United ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when SuperSport United equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
A mark of 8.04 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luther Ngcobo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Luther Ngcobo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Gift Motupa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Kermit Khune was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. SuperSport United will try very hard not to make too much of it.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Kermit Furman is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at SuperSport United, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from KCB for Mandla Khune was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $330.0K for Lwanda Mbanjwa, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SuperSport United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Itumeleng Mokotjo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. SuperSport United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ramahlwe Billiat did not need any: 8.04, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Kermit Khune was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luther Ngcobo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.