Williams Mokoena 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 5 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bongani Jali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Williams Mokoena was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mamelodi Sundowns next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Nobody at SuperSport United 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Khama Khune is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Mamelodi Sundowns next, and one man in the SuperSport United dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Lebogang Furman and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Williams Mokoena 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Luther Erasmus could afford to be generous.
Something was said to Mothobi Mvala and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SuperSport United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Khama Mothiba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order SuperSport United prefer.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Happy Mashiane is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
SquadBongani Jali falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutEthen Sampson dropped after a run of poor form
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Keagan Mahlangu scored, was marked 7.96, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
Marked 8.13 — 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.
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Khama Modiba 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.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Siyabonga Dala. 1‑0 against Free State Stars, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Khama Modiba 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Luther Erasmus could afford to be generous.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Nobody at SuperSport United 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.
Golden Arrows next, and one man in the SuperSport United dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Happy Mashiane 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. Khama Modiba 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.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. SuperSport United told Kermit Billiat something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Happy Mashiane and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Minute 90, against Kaizer Chiefs, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Luther Erasmus chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Williams 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Two goals and a mark of 8.76 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The offer from Bloemfontein Celtic for Siyabonga Billiat 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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Orlando Pirates; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Teboho Mkhize in the middle of it, and Jomo Cosmos unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Erick Hlatshwayo at his very best
Player ratingsKhama Mothiba ran the middle of the pitch — 6.82
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SuperSport United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 9.01 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Siyabonga Dala provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around SuperSport United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Williams Mokoena 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.
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. SuperSport United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The deal with Mamelodi Sundowns is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is saying, and nobody at SuperSport United is enjoying the guessing.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about SuperSport United and Black Aces in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
SuperSport United asked and Slovan Bratislava said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
SuperSport United have gone to Young Boys with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Lebogang Furman 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. Khama Modiba 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at SuperSport United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gift Mahlangu has his answer from SuperSport United; what he does with it is the next window’s story.