Done, and with games to spare. Next season has floodlit nights against clubs from other countries in it, and the accounts have a line they did not have last year.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Ronwen Williams: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
A 1‑1 win over Orlando Pirates, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ronwen Williams 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Sékou Tidiany Bangoura is living that version at Mamelodi Sundowns, and it tends to show in the first month.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Nicolás Paz
Player ratingsThe afternoon belonged to Nuno Santos
The dugoutAntonio Van Wyk back under a manager who knows him
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
Ronwen Williams 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 Dean Hlatshwayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Antonio Van Wyk before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Antonio Van Wyk trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mamelodi Sundowns will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mamelodi Sundowns lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 2, 71 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marcelo Allende 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.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Mamelodi Sundowns hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dean Hlatshwayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Antonio Van Wyk before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mamelodi Sundowns lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 at Mamelodi Sundowns will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Kabelo Sibande
The dugoutAntonio Van Wyk back under a manager who knows him
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mamelodi Sundowns will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thato Moalusi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mamelodi Sundowns the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ronwen Williams 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 Dean Hlatshwayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arthur Sales is on it.
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.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Antonio Van Wyk before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mamelodi Sundowns will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mamelodi Sundowns lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ronwen Williams was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Hlatshwayo 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Antonio Van Wyk before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns 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 Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Antonio Van Wyk is a Mamelodi Sundowns player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Antonio Van Wyk has just signed for Mamelodi Sundowns, and for once the answer mattered.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ronwen Williams is on it.
In brief
The dugoutAntonio Van Wyk back under a manager who knows him
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mamelodi Sundowns will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Hlatshwayo 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 manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Siyanda Ndlovu is on it.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Antonio Van Wyk before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mamelodi Sundowns know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mamelodi Sundowns will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 71 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Wesley Delgado will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mamelodi Sundowns the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ronwen Williams 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.
A point taken on 91 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Arthur Sales is on it.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ronwen Phiri chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutKhuliso Mudau is still being punished for one mistake
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mamelodi Sundowns will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siyanda Ndlovu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Ajax Cape Town had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mamelodi Sundowns will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Themba Lorch has just signed for Mamelodi Sundowns, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mamelodi Sundowns will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.43 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dean Hlatshwayo 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. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mamelodi Sundowns can pretend not to have heard.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.72 for the rest of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Wesley Delgado will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mamelodi Sundowns the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mamelodi Sundowns will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match16 Feb 2030
Another one collected away from home
5 on the bounce on the road for Mamelodi Sundowns. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Raimane Daou has agreed terms with SuperSport United for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Ronwen Williams 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 Dean Hlatshwayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mamelodi Sundowns will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 2, 60 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Mamelodi Sundowns know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arthur Sales will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mamelodi Sundowns the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Dean Hlatshwayo has, at Mamelodi Sundowns, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The offer from Spezia for Nicolás Paz was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $1.9M of what Mamelodi Sundowns paid for Simphiwe Selepe is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mamelodi Sundowns have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 2 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed 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 Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Mamelodi Sundowns hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Wesley Delgado has agreed terms with Kaizer Chiefs for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khulumani Ndamane 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Mamelodi Sundowns have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Ronwen Williams 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Orlando Pirates had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
8 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Orlando Pirates waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
17 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Khuliso Mudau had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Player ratings7 Jan 2030
A brace, and Jody Ah Shene takes the afternoon — 8.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jody Ah Shene provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arthur Sales will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mamelodi Sundowns the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mamelodi Sundowns can pretend not to have heard.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Malibongwe Khoza scored, was marked 7.83, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mamelodi Sundowns can pretend not to have heard.
Ronwen Williams was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Allende is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Kutlwano Letlhaku 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.
Marked 8.09 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
16 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Marcelo Allende provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Ronwen Williams 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Iqraam Rayners will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mamelodi Sundowns the goodbyes have quietly begun.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lenny Pirringuel and Mamelodi Sundowns agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Player ratings10 Dec 2029
A brace, and Jody Ah Shene takes the afternoon — 8.58
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jody Ah Shene provided it, and the 8.58 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arthur Sales will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mamelodi Sundowns the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcelo Allende was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Khuliso Mudau 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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.
Player ratings3 Dec 2029
Up for the corner, and Thato Sibiya delivers — 7.65
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Thato Sibiya scored, was marked 7.65, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mamelodi Sundowns can pretend not to have heard.
Ronwen Williams 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 at Mamelodi Sundowns will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Iqraam Rayners will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mamelodi Sundowns the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Allende 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ronwen Williams signs something — a contract at Mamelodi Sundowns or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
7.97, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mamelodi Sundowns 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 Marcelo Allende was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ronwen Williams is on it.
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Jody Ah Shene decided nobody was going anywhere. Golden Arrows had no time left to answer.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
A brace, and Jody Ah Shene takes the afternoon — 8.76
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jody Ah Shene provided it, and the 8.76 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Ronwen Williams 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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khulumani Ndamane 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.
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, and it is not being withdrawn.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Ronwen Williams 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 Marcelo Allende was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Peter Shalulile has his answer from Mamelodi Sundowns; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mamelodi Sundowns have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Siyanda Ndlovu 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.
A 1‑0 win over Platinum Stars, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mamelodi Sundowns have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns 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 Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
There were 87 minutes on the clock and Chippa United had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Mamelodi Sundowns did not stop to explain themselves.
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ronwen Williams 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.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Allende 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.06 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Marcelo Allende at his very best
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ronwen Williams 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 Marcelo Allende was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gomolemo Kekana is on it.
The captaincy has been taken off Ronwen Williams. Mamelodi Sundowns will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
In brief
The dugoutKhuliso Mudau dropped after a run of poor form
The dugoutHalf-satisfied: Ronwen Phiri on the draw
A brace, and Arthur Sales takes the afternoon — 8.67
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Arthur Sales provided it, and the 8.67 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 Mamelodi Sundowns they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khulumani Ndamane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
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 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Ronwen Phiri to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutMarcelo Allende has become a man the manager trusts
8 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal that would have taken Thato Moalusi to Kaizer Chiefs has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Mamelodi Sundowns with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Orlando Pirates moved on, Jody February reports back to Mamelodi Sundowns, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Ronwen Williams 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. Abubakar Ghali is living that version at Mamelodi Sundowns, and it tends to show in the first month.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kenneth Paal and Mamelodi Sundowns agree another 3 years.
Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Golden Arrows moved on, Gomolemo Kekana reports back to Mamelodi Sundowns, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
He arrived for a fee and leaves for a fraction of it. $465.3K of what Mamelodi Sundowns paid for Oumar Komara is money the club will not see again, and the boardroom will be asked about it for two seasons.
30 in and 18 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ronwen Williams and Mamelodi Sundowns agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Kenneth Paal is living that version at Mamelodi Sundowns, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khulumani Ndamane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutSiyanda Ndlovu back under a manager who knows him
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mamelodi Sundowns people have started saying his name in the past tense.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns 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 Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Allende 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 new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Add another name to the list: Orlando Pirates have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jody February. The answer from Mamelodi Sundowns has not changed — yet.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
A brace, and Jody Ah Shene takes the afternoon — 8.46
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jody Ah Shene provided it, and the 8.46 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 Mamelodi Sundowns they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ronwen Williams 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 want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Mamelodi Sundowns hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
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.
In brief
The dugoutSiyanda Ndlovu back under a manager who knows him
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and SuperSport United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns 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 Mamelodi Sundowns can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Mamelodi Sundowns hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Ronwen Williams 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 Marcelo Allende was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mamelodi Sundowns people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mamelodi Sundowns can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Kaizer Chiefs for Thato Moalusi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and University of Pretoria waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, 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 Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Benjamin Fredrick again, and this time the name on the line is Enyimba. Mamelodi Sundowns are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khulumani Ndamane 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 new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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 agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcelo Allende was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The name of Jody February has come up in conversations Mamelodi Sundowns were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Oumar Komara
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mamelodi Sundowns lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Golden Arrows waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ronwen Williams 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 Marcelo Allende was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and University of Pretoria waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mamelodi Sundowns can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khulumani Ndamane 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 new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The phone has started ringing about Thato Moalusi again, and this time the name on the line is Kaizer Chiefs. Mamelodi Sundowns are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, and it is not being withdrawn.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mamelodi Sundowns will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Van Wyk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mamelodi Sundowns the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Benjamin Fredrick again, and this time the name on the line is Enyimba. Mamelodi Sundowns are listening politely and promising nothing.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
In brief
The dugoutRonwen Williams has become a man the manager trusts
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Gomolemo Kekana had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Mamelodi Sundowns have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mamelodi Sundowns will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ronwen Williams 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.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Golden Arrows waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ronwen Williams 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 name of Iqraam Rayners has come up in conversations Mamelodi Sundowns were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Khulumani Ndamane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, and it is not being withdrawn.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mamelodi Sundowns will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Allende 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 new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Mamelodi Sundowns will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thato Moalusi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mamelodi Sundowns the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Mamelodi Sundowns can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcelo Allende was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
25 appearances and 5 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mamelodi Sundowns 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 Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khulumani Ndamane 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 new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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 Khuliso Mudau.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcelo Allende was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marcelo Allende trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Mamelodi Sundowns will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Mamelodi Sundowns hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Khuliso Mudau and Mamelodi Sundowns agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Ronwen Williams 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 Marcelo Allende was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ronwen Williams was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khulumani Ndamane 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 new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Arthur Sales will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mamelodi Sundowns the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Mamelodi Sundowns know which stage they are at.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Famana Quizera and Mamelodi Sundowns agree another 3 years.
Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thalente Mbatha trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Siyanda Ndlovu is living that version at Mamelodi Sundowns, and it tends to show in the first month.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Van Wyk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mamelodi Sundowns the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siyanda Ndlovu before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Paz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohamed Nasraoui and Mamelodi Sundowns agree another 4 years.
Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mamelodi Sundowns will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns 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 Mamelodi Sundowns 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 Khulumani Ndamane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thamsanqa Modiba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ronwen Williams 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Mamelodi Sundowns are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khulumani Ndamane is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Themba Dala 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Bradley Mokotjo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Lebogang 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ronwen Williams is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns 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 Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Víctor Rofino is living that version at Mamelodi Sundowns, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Paz 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 manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Marcelo Allende is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Antonio Van Wyk will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mamelodi Sundowns the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Simphiwe Selepe scored, was marked 7.74, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khulumani Ndamane is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mamelodi Sundowns will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ronwen Williams 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 Khulumani Ndamane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mamelodi Sundowns will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Marcelo Allende and Mamelodi Sundowns agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Ronwen Williams 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 Nicolás Paz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns 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 Mamelodi Sundowns 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 Khulumani Ndamane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.31, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Thalente Mbatha was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.47 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marcelo Allende 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Mamelodi Sundowns and Golden Arrows, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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 agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns heard it as anything else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nicolás Paz was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mamelodi Sundowns lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mamelodi Sundowns people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Mamelodi Sundowns have paid $3.3M for Nicolás Paz, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
7 in and 6 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.
The name of Gomolemo Kekana has come up in conversations Mamelodi Sundowns were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Mamelodi Sundowns hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Racing Club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Ronwen Williams was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khulumani Ndamane 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 words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chippa United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal with San Martín SJ 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns 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 Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Remo have kept their man, and Mamelodi Sundowns go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
53 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mamelodi Sundowns lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Jody Ah Shene had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Mamelodi Sundowns asked and Vasco da Gama 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 offer from University of Pretoria for Gomolemo Kekana was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Thamsanqa Modiba is living that version at Mamelodi Sundowns, and it tends to show in the first month.
62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mamelodi Sundowns lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mamelodi Sundowns people have started saying his name in the past tense.
$4.2M was the most the club would pay and SuperSport United 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.
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.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The chase for Ntandoyenkosi Mabaso ended with $1.4M changing hands and Bidvest Wits out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
70 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mamelodi Sundowns lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and University of Pretoria waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gomolemo Kekana provided it, and the 8.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Bidvest Wits have accepted the money. What Mamelodi Sundowns do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
$4.2M on the table at SuperSport United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mamelodi Sundowns can pretend not to have heard.
The name of Gomolemo Kekana has come up in conversations Mamelodi Sundowns were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
78 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mamelodi Sundowns lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gomolemo Kekana provided it, and the 8.26 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 Mamelodi Sundowns they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mamelodi Sundowns can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 2‑1 win over Bloemfontein Celtic, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Ronwen Phiri could afford to be generous.
86 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mamelodi Sundowns lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mamelodi Sundowns have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Marcelo Allende 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 at Mamelodi Sundowns will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mamelodi Sundowns lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns 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 Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Thalente Mbatha has his answer from Mamelodi Sundowns; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lehlogonolo Mohlabine and Mamelodi Sundowns agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oumar Komara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Ronwen Williams 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oumar Komara 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 is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mamelodi Sundowns lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns 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 Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Peter Shalulile and Mamelodi Sundowns agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Malibongwe Khoza before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
35 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mamelodi Sundowns lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Malibongwe Khoza before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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 dugout27 Nov 2028
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Ronwen Phiri to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Oumar Komara falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thato Moalusi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mamelodi Sundowns the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ronwen Williams 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 new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Malibongwe Khoza before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oumar Komara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Kegan Johannes’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Mamelodi Sundowns needing him to play as if none of it matters.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mamelodi Sundowns lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Malibongwe Khoza before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
A point taken on 86 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Mamelodi Sundowns will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Khulumani Ndamane's mistake
57 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mamelodi Sundowns lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 90th minute. Bidvest Wits will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Position 3, 28 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
13 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
1 for Ntando Nkosi, marked 7.76, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Marcelo Allende 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.
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Marcelo Allende 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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A performance of 8.38 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Siyanda Ndlovu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ronwen Williams 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.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.79, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Tebogo Moreri 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.
3 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Free State Stars spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Ronwen Williams 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Khama Mkhize and Mamelodi Sundowns agree another 3 years.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Erick Billiat falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Mamelodi Sundowns told Ntando Nkosi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Siyanda Ndlovu is on it.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Mamelodi Sundowns has been clear about where Tebogo Moreri stands, which is more than many ever get.
The new man at Mamelodi Sundowns has worked with Siphelele Mkhulise before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Platinum Stars will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Mamelodi Sundowns were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ronwen Williams and Mamelodi Sundowns agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The shirt still fits. Siphelele Mkhulise is back at Mamelodi Sundowns, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
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.” Ronwen Phiri, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Chippa United will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Mamelodi Sundowns were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ronwen Williams and Mamelodi Sundowns agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 8.37 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Gomolemo Kekana was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.01. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Kabelo Sibande
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns 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 Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
1‑3 to Kaizer Chiefs, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Marcelo Allende was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout25 Sep 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 1‑3 Ronwen Phiri left the room before anybody could ask which.
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ronwen Williams is on it.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Black Aces moved on, Terrence Mashego reports back to Mamelodi Sundowns, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Thabo Cele has just signed for Mamelodi Sundowns, and for once the answer mattered.
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Lwanda Mbanjwa 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Kegan Johannes reports back to Mamelodi Sundowns with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, and it is not being withdrawn.
Marcelo Allende 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 easiest signature of my career.” Kabelo Sibande and Mamelodi Sundowns agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Mamelodi Sundowns has been clear about where Antonio Van Wyk stands, which is more than many ever get.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Mamelodi Sundowns will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Mamelodi Sundowns have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mamelodi Sundowns can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.22 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 31 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mamelodi Sundowns people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The bid was some way short and Mamelodi Sundowns did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Siyabonga Mabena, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.86
A mark of 7.86 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mamelodi Sundowns can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Fawaaz Basadien again, and this time the name on the line is Black Aces. Mamelodi Sundowns are listening politely and promising nothing.
Ronwen Williams 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 Marcelo Allende was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Mamelodi Sundowns have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Ronwen Williams and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Allende 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Mamelodi Sundowns have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Malibongwe Khoza will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mamelodi Sundowns the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Siyabonga Mabena did not need any: 7.94, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Polokwane City had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Free State Stars waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mamelodi Sundowns lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mamelodi Sundowns people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Jomo Cosmos had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer from University of Pretoria for Siyabonga Mabena was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ronwen Williams 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
In brief
The dugoutMarcelo Allende has become a man the manager trusts
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Mamelodi Sundowns have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Enyimba had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The offer from Golden Arrows for Malibongwe Khoza was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ronwen Williams 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.
13 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 words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nuno Santos had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mamelodi Sundowns can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mamelodi Sundowns people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Mamelodi Sundowns they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He is going to Orlando Pirates, the club has $1.4M 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marcelo Allende was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The words a physio says slowly. 49 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Mamelodi Sundowns have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Wrexham for Marcelo Allende was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Jody Ah Shene had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mamelodi Sundowns this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Allende 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Mamelodi Sundowns will quote 19 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Khuliso Mudau is on it.
57 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mamelodi Sundowns lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mamelodi Sundowns people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Nuno Santos again, and this time the name on the line is Kaizer Chiefs. Mamelodi Sundowns are listening politely and promising nothing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nuno Santos and Mamelodi Sundowns agree another 4 years.
Ronwen Williams 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.
67 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mamelodi Sundowns lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” SuperSport United had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Mamelodi Sundowns have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Mamelodi Sundowns, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ronwen Williams and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Marcelo Allende is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Malibongwe Khoza is on it.
In brief
The dugoutLebo Mothiba is still being punished for one mistake