Marked for Teboho Modiba
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Mandla Phiri in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Thamsanqa Mothiba 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Carlo De Luca was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
The goal that put Free State Stars ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Black Aces equalised, 4 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Match7 Nov 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Kermit Ngcobo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Black Aces will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market9 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Carlo De Luca signs something — a contract at Black Aces or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Black Aces
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Market12 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Carlo De Luca 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thamsanqa Grobler 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Ramahlwe Mphela
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Kermit Ngcobo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Black Aces will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market12 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Carlo De Luca signs something — a contract at Black Aces or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Gift Zungu changes it off the bench
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Black Aces had a different afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Sep 2026
Kaizer Chiefs go through and Black Aces go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Sifiso Mahlangu: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market14 Sep 2026
“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 Black Aces, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlo De Luca 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Maritzburg United left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Lebogang Tau misses from twelve yards
It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kermit Ngcobo, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Black Aces did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Thamsanqa Mothiba again, and this time the name on the line is Heracles. Black Aces are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market3 Aug 2026
Teboho Modiba hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Black Aces can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Mandla Phiri 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Carlo De Luca 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Lebogang Modiba has his answer from Black Aces; what he does with it is the next window’s story.