Marked for Lebogang Mphela
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Dec 2026
Lebogang Mphela 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
1‑2 to Mamelodi Sundowns, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Thulani Hlatshwayo left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Pentjie Zulu 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thulani Mahlangu, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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.
Market28 Dec 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Black Aces know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Dec 2026
The small margins put Black Aces out
Out, 0‑1 to Mamelodi Sundowns, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Asanele Velebayi 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.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I watch every Black Aces game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chippa United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marked 8.21 — 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Cole Alexander commits to Black Aces for another 1 years.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Bongani Jali
“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.
Match7 Dec 2026
The half-term report on Black Aces
Position 9, 21 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Black Aces
4 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Asanele Velebayi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match21 Nov 2026
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
The dugout23 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Thulani Hlatshwayo after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Lebogang Mphela 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Pentjie Zulu dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Black Aces
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pentjie Zulu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Too much change too quickly at Black Aces
5 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Siyabonga Dolly 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pentjie Zulu, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Teboho Mkhize knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Black Aces, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ethen Sampson damages knee ligaments — 20 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 20 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Lebogang Mphela 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
2‑3 to Chippa United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.21 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Marks Munyai, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Thulani Hlatshwayo left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Black Aces
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pentjie Zulu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
Ethen Sampson damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad2 Nov 2026
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Pentjie Zulu 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bongani Jali, and the manager let it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
Ethen Sampson damages knee ligaments — 35 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 35 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Thulani Mothiba: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Black Aces have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Asanele Velebayi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match24 Oct 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lebogang Mphela, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Andile Mokoena 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Ethen Sampson damages knee ligaments — 49 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Asanele Velebayi 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
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marks Munyai and Black Aces agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Black Aces told Zuko Mdunyelwa something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Lebogang Mphela is on it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Black Aces will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market12 Oct 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Andile Mokoena has his answer from Black Aces; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Market12 Oct 2026
Experience through the door at Black Aces
Marks Munyai arrives at 35 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Market12 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Siyabonga Dolly signs something — a contract at Black Aces or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Sep 2026
3‑0, and Morgan Phiri took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Black Aces tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Lebogang Mphela and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Asanele Velebayi 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.33, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Morgan Phiri at his very best
Marked 8.26. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Black Aces.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Market28 Sep 2026
Black Aces have let the market know Lebogang Mphela can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match19 Sep 2026
Maritzburg United left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Thulani Hlatshwayo to a room that had heard them before.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Black Aces are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Teboho Mkhize 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.
Market21 Sep 2026
Black Aces have made Bongani Mokotjo available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
Ajax Cape Town next, and one man in the Black Aces dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match9 Sep 2026
A 3‑1 win over Kaizer Chiefs, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad14 Sep 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Thulani Mahlangu, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.97
A mark of 7.97 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Lebogang Mothiba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.56. 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Black Aces asked and Mamelodi Sundowns said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
He is 21 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
0‑2 to University of Pretoria, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 10 in, 3 out at Black Aces
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 10 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Asanele Velebayi 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
Supporters make their feelings known about Siyabonga Dolly
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Black Aces would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
Market7 Sep 2026
Black Aces opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Bongani Mokotjo stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
Market7 Sep 2026
Black Aces have let the market know Andile Mokoena can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Black Aces have done the hard part with Mamelodi Sundowns, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Black Aces had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Mamelodi Sundowns, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Siyabonga Dolly and Black Aces agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Bongani Jali 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Solly Khunyedi 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Siyabonga Khune has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Khama Phiri has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.