Marked for Daniel Obi
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Nov 2040
Sanele Sikhosana damages knee ligaments — 129 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 129 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.
Player ratings19 Nov 2040
Two goals and a mark of 9.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings19 Nov 2040
Keagan Modiba, 35, rolls back the years — 8.14
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.14 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Match17 Nov 2040
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bloemfontein Celtic has to find a result from somewhere.
Match17 Nov 2040
Beaten 4‑5, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market19 Nov 2040
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bloemfontein Celtic is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Nov 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bloemfontein Celtic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Nov 2040
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Bloemfontein Celtic and Free State Stars, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad19 Nov 2040
Zeke Felix 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Oct 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Teboho Mabunda
128 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bloemfontein Celtic lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad22 Oct 2040
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match20 Oct 2040
13 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad22 Oct 2040
A one-man rearguard from Gift Dolly
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings22 Oct 2040
Kermit Zungu, 34, rolls back the years — 8.09
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.09 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market22 Oct 2040
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bloemfontein Celtic is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Oct 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bloemfontein Celtic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market22 Oct 2040
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Kermit Zungu’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 Sep 2040
The unbeaten run reaches 15. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad24 Sep 2040
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 Sep 2040
Daniel Obi has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bloemfontein Celtic they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Sep 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bloemfontein Celtic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Sep 2040
A move Gabriel Caliste would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Gabriel Caliste is living that version at Bloemfontein Celtic, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match22 Sep 2040
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad24 Sep 2040
Words at Bloemfontein Celtic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gusttavo 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.
Player ratings24 Sep 2040
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Aug 2040
A fracture rules Ramahlwe Lorch out for 87 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bloemfontein Celtic will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad20 Aug 2040
The match ball belongs to Bradley Phiri, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match18 Aug 2040
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Bloemfontein Celtic did not have in the autumn.
Market20 Aug 2040
The offer from Orlando Pirates for Hlompho Mokotjo 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.
Market20 Aug 2040
“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 Bloemfontein Celtic, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings20 Aug 2040
The game went through Percy Erasmus — 6.68
Marked 6.68 on 16 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Market20 Aug 2040
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bloemfontein Celtic is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad20 Aug 2040
Percy Erasmus 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.
Match18 Aug 2040
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bradley Phiri. 4‑3 against Bidvest Wits, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Jul 2040
Ramahlwe Lorch breaks a bone — 117 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 117 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market23 Jul 2040
The bid was some way short and Bloemfontein Celtic did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market23 Jul 2040
Only the photograph left for Daniel Obi
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Obi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bloemfontein Celtic the goodbyes have quietly begun.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jun 2040
The offer from Chippa United for Zeke Felix 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.
Market25 Jun 2040
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bloemfontein Celtic is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad25 Jun 2040
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bloemfontein Celtic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jun 2040
The offer from Free State Stars for Hlompho Mokotjo 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.
Squad18 Jun 2040
Gift Dolly 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.
Squad18 Jun 2040
Words at Bloemfontein Celtic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zeke Felix 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings13 Feb 2040
Kermit Zungu, 33, rolls back the years — 8.11
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.11 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market13 Feb 2040
The name of Zeke Felix has come up in conversations Bloemfontein Celtic were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad13 Feb 2040
Thamsanqa Mphela: 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.” Bloemfontein Celtic have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad13 Feb 2040
Khama 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 Bloemfontein Celtic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Feb 2040
Words at Bloemfontein Celtic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zeke Felix 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.
Match11 Feb 2040
A 1‑0 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.
Player ratings13 Feb 2040
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings13 Feb 2040
The chances came and went for Khama Phiri
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Feb 2039
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mouhamed Diouf
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bloemfontein Celtic lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings21 Feb 2039
Age has not caught Marco Tedesco yet — 7.85
At 39 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad21 Feb 2039
Khama 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.
Squad21 Feb 2039
Words at Bloemfontein Celtic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gusttavo 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.
Squad21 Feb 2039
Marco Tedesco has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Bloemfontein Celtic 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.
Player ratings21 Feb 2039
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings21 Feb 2039
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 12 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.