85 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jomo Cosmos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
The dugout22 May 2028
Sifiso Nkosi 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Jomo Cosmos will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Kheireddine Boussouf is 40 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The words a physio says slowly. 92 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Jomo Cosmos is running low.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jomo Cosmos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
99 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jomo Cosmos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Siphesihle Msomi was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Jomo Cosmos, another week without a signature from Siyabonga Makhoba.
106 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jomo Cosmos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Siphesihle Msomi was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at Jomo Cosmos says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jomo Cosmos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Jomo Cosmos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lebohang Lesako 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 dugout24 Apr 2028
Sifiso Nkosi 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Branden Matsila trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 mood at Jomo Cosmos has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jomo Cosmos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Jomo Cosmos is running low.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Jomo Cosmos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lebohang Lesako 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 Jomo Cosmos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
127 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jomo Cosmos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Jomo Cosmos told Tshepiso Mahlangu something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Jomo Cosmos, another week without a signature from Mooketsi Phindela.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jomo Cosmos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Judas Moseamedi has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
Position 16 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Lebogang Erasmus has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Jomo Cosmos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lebohang Lesako 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Siyabonga Makhoba has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Lonwabo Magugwana was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
In brief
The dugoutSamkelo Mzolo asks for a word with the manager
“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 Jomo Cosmos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Judas Moseamedi 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 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.
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 dugout27 Mar 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Sifiso Nkosi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jomo Cosmos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jomo Cosmos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The mood at Jomo Cosmos has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Jomo Cosmos
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 12 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Boardroom20 Mar 2028
Nobody left the Jomo Cosmos dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
SquadWords at Jomo Cosmos training over how hard people work
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lebohang Lesako provided it, and the 7.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Siyabonga Makhoba.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Lebogang Erasmus kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Jomo Cosmos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“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 Jomo Cosmos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
In brief
SquadWords at Jomo Cosmos training over how hard people work
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jomo Cosmos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
“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 dugout28 Feb 2028
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 0‑1 Lebogang Erasmus left the room before anybody could ask which.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thokozani Shabalala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
Sifiso Nkosi 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Sibongiseni Ngcobo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Jomo Cosmos needing him to play as if none of it matters.
17 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Jomo Cosmos has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces21 Feb 2028
The mood at Jomo Cosmos has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Jomo Cosmos
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jomo Cosmos can pretend not to have heard.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jomo Cosmos can pretend not to have heard.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Jomo Cosmos and Bloemfontein Celtic in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Jomo Cosmos asked and Bloemfontein Celtic 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 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.
15 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.
0‑4 to Black Aces, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Lebogang Erasmus has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jomo Cosmos can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Jomo Cosmos close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chippa United have kept their man, and Jomo Cosmos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
Transfer targetsThe window shuts on the Tapelo Xoki deal
$300.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
“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.
The terraces31 Jan 2028
Supporters turn on the $300.0K sale of Gontse Molefe
He is going to Bidvest Wits, the club has $300.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Everything agreed with Bloemfontein Celtic, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The offer went to Orlando Pirates this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Judas Moseamedi 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Lebohang Lesako was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The mood at Jomo Cosmos has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
13 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Jomo Cosmos is running low.
The deal with Chippa United 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.
Jomo Cosmos asked and Kaizer Chiefs said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Judas Moseamedi 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Lebohang Lesako was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jomo Cosmos can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bloemfontein Celtic have kept their man, and Jomo Cosmos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Jomo Cosmos, another week without a signature from Branden Matsila.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Lebogang Erasmus after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Position 16 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bidvest Wits waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Jomo Cosmos is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jomo Cosmos can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
$47.0K settles it between the clubs for Edward Maova
Golden Arrows have accepted the money. What Jomo Cosmos do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Jomo Cosmos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jomo Cosmos can pretend not to have heard.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jomo Cosmos can pretend not to have heard.
8 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.
“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 Jomo Cosmos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Judas Moseamedi 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Lebohang Lesako was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Jomo Cosmos know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Position 16 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Jomo Cosmos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lebohang Lesako 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.
Everybody at Jomo Cosmos saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Jomo Cosmos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Jomo Cosmos know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
Position 16, 7 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
0‑4 against Chippa United, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
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 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Lebogang Erasmus to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Chippa United in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Judas Moseamedi 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Lebohang Lesako was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Jomo Cosmos told Zoey Monyepao something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jomo Cosmos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Kaizer Chiefs next, and one man in the Jomo Cosmos dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Jomo Cosmos the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Jomo Cosmos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Siphesihle Msomi's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
The mood at Jomo Cosmos has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
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.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Siphesihle Msomi was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Lebogang Erasmus after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Jomo Cosmos has been clear about where Thokozani Shabalala stands, which is more than many ever get.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Position 15 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Samkelo Mzolo had Jomo Cosmos level again within 4 minutes, and Black Aces never got to play with a lead at all.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Lebogang Erasmus, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Siyabonga Makhoba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
“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 Jomo Cosmos, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Siyabonga Makhoba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The mood at Jomo Cosmos has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Judas Moseamedi and Jomo Cosmos agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Jomo Cosmos ran out of time with Golden Arrows. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
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 1‑4 Lebogang Erasmus left the room before anybody could ask which.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Jomo Cosmos, another week without a signature from Sifiso Nkosi.
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and University of Pretoria were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
A 1‑0 win over University of Pretoria, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Lebogang Erasmus on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Tshepiso Mahlangu's mistake
The dugoutZoey Monyepao asks for a word with the manager
Judas Moseamedi 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Jomo Cosmos will try again when the window opens; Kaizer Chiefs may not be selling by then.
Everybody at Jomo Cosmos saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Jomo Cosmos told Gerald Ndlovu something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Out, 1‑9 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
5 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
Everything agreed with Golden Arrows, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Gontse Molefe reports back to Jomo Cosmos with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The mood at Jomo Cosmos has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Sbonga Mgwaba has just signed for Jomo Cosmos, and for once the answer mattered.
Jomo Cosmos and SuperSport United have settled on $21.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jomo Cosmos can pretend not to have heard.
Everything was agreed with Orlando Pirates and then the doctor spoke. Jomo Cosmos have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
$360.0K on the table at Golden Arrows. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“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 Jomo Cosmos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Free State Stars have accepted the money. What Jomo Cosmos do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
$88.0K on the table at Orlando Pirates. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Something was said to Judas Moseamedi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Odwa Bushula's mistake
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Polokwane City waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Jomo Cosmos is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jomo Cosmos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have shaken hands with Kaizer Chiefs; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 Jomo Cosmos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Kaizer Chiefs, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
7 goals in one match, Thabo Nkwana on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Jomo Cosmos and Bidvest Wits.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Jomo Cosmos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The offer went to Free State Stars this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Everything agreed with Chippa United, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Orlando Pirates keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Orlando Pirates wanted more than $80.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
The mood at Jomo Cosmos has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“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 Jomo Cosmos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Jomo Cosmos asked and SuperSport United 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 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Lebogang Khune 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.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Jomo Cosmos people have started saying his name in the past tense.
$80.0K on the table at Orlando Pirates. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lebohang Lesako was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Jomo Cosmos can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Jomo Cosmos have made the call to Kaizer Chiefs. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
11 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
$450.0K settles it between the clubs for Thabo Mokwena
Kaizer Chiefs have accepted the money. What Jomo Cosmos do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 Jomo Cosmos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jomo Cosmos have gone to Free State Stars 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.
Jomo Cosmos offered $640.0K; Free State Stars said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jomo Cosmos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
17 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jomo Cosmos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Jomo Cosmos and Kaizer Chiefs have settled on $570.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Jomo Cosmos have done the hard part with SuperSport United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Jomo Cosmos have gone to Orlando Pirates 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Jomo Cosmos offered $80.0K; Orlando Pirates said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Jomo Cosmos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lebohang Lesako 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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 clubs have shaken hands with Polokwane City; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Jomo Cosmos have done the hard part with Kaizer Chiefs, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Jomo Cosmos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
$640.0K on the table at Free State Stars. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jomo Cosmos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Lebogang Erasmus has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
The offer went to Kaizer Chiefs this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Jomo Cosmos have gone to Orlando Pirates 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.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Judas Moseamedi's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
In brief
The dugoutSamkelo Mzolo knocks on the manager's door
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jomo Cosmos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 16, 11 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
$590.0K settles it between the clubs for Thabo Mokwena
Kaizer Chiefs have accepted the money. What Jomo Cosmos do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
$640.0K was the most the club would pay and Free State Stars were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
$51.0K on the table at Polokwane City. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Siphesihle Msomi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Jomo Cosmos is running low.
The clubs have shaken hands with Mamelodi Sundowns; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 Jomo Cosmos, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to Free State Stars this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$51.0K was the most the club would pay and Polokwane City were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept their man, and Jomo Cosmos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Jomo Cosmos have done the hard part with Kaizer Chiefs, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Jomo Cosmos have gone to Kaizer Chiefs 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Jomo Cosmos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
$51.0K on the table at Polokwane City. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jomo Cosmos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Jomo Cosmos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
Maritzburg United have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Mamelodi Sundowns have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Sibongiseni Ngcobo has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
In brief
The dugoutTony Robert without the man who signed him
BoardroomOpen for business: Jomo Cosmos enter the window
Position 16 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Lebogang Khune is living that version at Jomo Cosmos, and it tends to show in the first month.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Jomo Cosmos will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout31 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Odwa Bushula's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jomo Cosmos know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jomo Cosmos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Tshiamo Chiloane's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Gerald Ndlovu
42Edition
The Jomo Cosmos Post
17 May 2027
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces17 May 2027
The mood at Jomo Cosmos has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gontse Molefe will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Jomo Cosmos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jomo Cosmos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Position 16 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Jomo Cosmos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Judas Moseamedi 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 May 2027
Words at Jomo Cosmos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lebohang Lesako 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.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Judas Moseamedi was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jomo Cosmos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutOdwa Bushula is still being punished for one mistake
28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jomo Cosmos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Jomo Cosmos is running low.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lebohang Lesako was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jomo Cosmos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jomo Cosmos, and both men came out saying it was fine.
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jomo Cosmos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Judas Moseamedi 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 words a physio says slowly. 51 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 board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Lebogang Erasmus has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ntando Tshwana is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jomo Cosmos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Jomo Cosmos is running low.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Siphesihle Msomi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Gontse Molefe
The mood at Jomo Cosmos has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The words a physio says slowly. 65 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Samkelo Dlamuka provided it, and the 7.92 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jomo Cosmos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jomo Cosmos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jomo Cosmos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Jomo Cosmos is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jomo Cosmos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Jomo Cosmos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Judas Moseamedi and Jomo Cosmos agree another 2 years.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ntando Tshwana is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
19 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Judas Moseamedi was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
24 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Orlando Pirates were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jomo Cosmos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lebohang Lesako. 1‑0 against Orlando Pirates, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 7.97. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Lebogang Erasmus, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
24 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jomo Cosmos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Jomo Cosmos 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 Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 6.93, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
23 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.
102 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jomo Cosmos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
0‑3 against Bloemfontein Celtic, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Jomo Cosmos will try again when the window opens; Kaizer Chiefs may not be selling by then.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Jomo Cosmos know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutGerald Ndlovu is still being punished for one mistake
Position 16 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Free State Stars waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Jomo Cosmos is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
Jomo Cosmos ran out of time with Polokwane City. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Polokwane City; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Jomo Cosmos until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Jomo Cosmos offered $51.0K; Kaizer Chiefs said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Jomo Cosmos have done the hard part with Mamelodi Sundowns, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 17 actions, 7.38, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Polokwane City wanted more than $100.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.12, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The offer went to Kaizer Chiefs this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
Minute 86, against Polokwane City, 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mooketsi Phindela, and the manager let it.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Lebogang Erasmus was not hiding it after 4‑4, and nobody in the Jomo Cosmos dressing room was either.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Jomo Cosmos have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
$540.0K settles it between the clubs for Divine Lunga
Mamelodi Sundowns have accepted the money. What Jomo Cosmos do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Black Aces; Jomo Cosmos go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
The offer went to Polokwane City this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
17 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Jomo Cosmos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Jomo Cosmos can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Jomo Cosmos is running low.
The phone has started ringing about Gontse Molefe again, and this time the name on the line is Free State Stars. Jomo Cosmos are listening politely and promising nothing.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Jomo Cosmos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jomo Cosmos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
15 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jomo Cosmos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samkelo Dlamuka, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 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 Lebogang Erasmus left the room before anybody could ask which.
14 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jomo Cosmos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jomo Cosmos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Jomo Cosmos can tell you which week it ends in.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 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 0‑2 Lebogang Erasmus left the room before anybody could ask which.
13 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jomo Cosmos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Jomo Cosmos is running low.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jomo Cosmos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Jomo Cosmos can tell you which week it ends in.
12 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jomo Cosmos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
The mood at Jomo Cosmos has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
0‑3 against Chippa United, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jomo Cosmos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout30 Nov 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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Lebogang Erasmus to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutSamkelo Mzolo knocks on the manager’s door
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jomo Cosmos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jomo Cosmos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jomo Cosmos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Lebogang Erasmus after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jomo Cosmos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jomo Cosmos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Jomo Cosmos told Thato Shiang something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Kaizer Chiefs in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jomo Cosmos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Jomo Cosmos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Jomo Cosmos and Orlando Pirates, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lebohang Lesako was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The words a physio says slowly. 72 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.
5 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jomo Cosmos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
81 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Jomo Cosmos lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Jomo Cosmos can tell you which week it ends in.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
Marked 6.54 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 106 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 88 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.
Position 15 and 3 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Samkelo Dlamuka is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Jomo Cosmos can tell you which week it ends in.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Jomo Cosmos will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Jomo Cosmos have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
9 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Jomo Cosmos told Isheanesu Mauchi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
6 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.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Thabo Molea has improved at 26, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Jomo Cosmos is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
In brief
The dugoutOdwa Bushula asks for a word with the manager
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Judas Moseamedi 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Sifiso Nkosi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Maritzburg United next, and one man in the Jomo Cosmos dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
Jomo Cosmos ran out of time with Black Aces. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It finished 0-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Siyabonga Makhoba knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad9 new faces, and Jomo Cosmos are still learning each other
6Edition
The Jomo Cosmos Post
7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondentSteady
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
$250.0K settles it between the clubs for Moloko Nape
Polokwane City have accepted the money. What Jomo Cosmos do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Jomo Cosmos close the window on a squad of their own making
21 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Jomo Cosmos have done the hard part with Black Aces, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Gerald Ndlovu is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Mamelodi Sundowns.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Jomo Cosmos than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
4 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
Bidvest Wits will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑2, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Jomo Cosmos were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Judas Moseamedi 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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Jomo Cosmos and Bidvest Wits in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Jomo Cosmos have done the hard part with Orlando Pirates, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept their man, and Jomo Cosmos go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Jomo Cosmos will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Jomo Cosmos, another week without a signature from Siphesihle Msomi.
9 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Mooketsi Phindela's mistake
0‑4 to Free State Stars, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Samkelo Mzolo has, at Jomo Cosmos, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The deal with Golden Arrows 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 Jomo Cosmos is enjoying the guessing.
Judas Moseamedi 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Rivaldo Modiba 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Thamsanqa Dolly 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Andile Billiat 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Khama Erasmus 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.
12 seasons and 154 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jomo Cosmos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Jomo Cosmos have made the call to Golden Arrows. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Jomo Cosmos have made the call to Mamelodi Sundowns. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.