Marked for Dean Mkhize
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Dec 2028
59 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Black Aces lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad25 Dec 2028
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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
A row about effort at Black Aces
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Phakamani Mahlambi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match23 Dec 2028
0‑1 to Mamelodi Sundowns, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
Bradley Jali gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kermit Mphela and Black Aces agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Andile Jali after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
Dean Mkhize asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Nov 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Cohen Stander
102 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Black Aces lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
No sign of nerves from Themba Phiri at 21 — 7.62
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Themba Phiri did not need any: 7.62, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Itumeleng Zwane 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phakamani Mahlambi 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 dugout13 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bradley Jali, and the manager let it.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
Evidence Phiri 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 dugout13 Nov 2028
Half-satisfied: Andile Jali on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Defensive actions: 14, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 40. 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.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Black Aces may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dean Mkhize and Black Aces agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Jayden Adams and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phakamani Mahlambi 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 terraces9 Oct 2028
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.
Match7 Oct 2028
Three points for Black Aces, 2‑0 the final word against Jomo Cosmos in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Marked 8.09 — 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 dugout9 Oct 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mnqobi Mzize, and the manager let it.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
Bookings catch up with Jayden Adams
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The dugout
Bongani Zwane has become a man the manager trusts
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Gift Furman beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 32. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Feb 2028
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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Phakamani Mahlambi 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 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Themba Phiri, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Feb 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Khama Dala and Black Aces agree another 4 years.
Loan watch28 Feb 2028
“I did not go to Bloemfontein Celtic to sit and watch. I want to come back to Black Aces and fight for my place.” 11 appearances in 33 matches say the rest.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.39 on the card, and the Black Aces support went home talking about one name.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
A promise honoured at Black Aces
Something was said to Themba Phiri and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
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.” Andile Jali chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Oct 2027
Itumeleng Zwane 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Cohen Stander and Black Aces agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Phakamani Mahlambi 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 dugout4 Oct 2027
“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 ratings4 Oct 2027
A mark of 7.79, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Andile Jali: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.