Johannesburg- A lot of noise has been made over the last few seasons about the invasion of foreign strikers in the domestic Premiership.
Local football critics went to the extent of blaming Bafana Bafana’s shortcomings on the signing of top forwards from outside our borders by PSL clubs.
Nothing wrong in that, it is the norm in football all over the world to recruit the best to win trophies.
But some even attributed the dismal showing of Bafana in front of goals and the failure to make it to the finals of the past two World Cups in Brazil and Germany, after we hosted in 2010, to PSL clubs not nurturing young strikers from their academies to the first teams.
However, things are starting to look up judging by the consistency of local strikers in the PSL and the fact that there have been fewer goalless draws since the beginning of the season compared to past campaigns.
Just this month, we were treated to a seven-goal thriller in the league match between Cape Town City and Golden Arrows last Saturday, three days earlier Marumo Gallants and Royal AM played to a 2-all stalemate, and viewers at home were entertained by four scintillating goals.
Three days before the Gallants/Royal four-goal showdown, Kaizer Chiefs routed Chippa United as Amakhosi ensured it rained four goals without a reply from the Chilli Boys.
Before that, Mamelodi Sundowns thrashed Swallows 3-0 and Arrows went past Gallants in their 3-1 nail-biter.
It is the early days of the Premiership and the standard has not improved that much, but the frills and thrills happening on and off the field have made this an exciting start to the season.
Thankfully, it augurs well for Bafana that we have five players recently called up by national team coach Hugo Broos to represent the country in the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifying matches, as the early PSL scorers chart illustrates.
Royal AM’s Bafana deadly striker Victor Letsoalo leads the goal-scoring leader board with four strikes but is tied with Sundowns’ Namibian forward Peter Shalulile at the top.
SuperSport United’s forward Thamsanqa Gabuza and Stellenbosch’s Judas Moseamedi have three goals apiece but are equal with Nigerian goal-poacher Chibuike Ohizu of Sekhukhune United.
Among Broos’ Bafana players in the two-goals bracket is Tshegofatso Mabasa (Orlando Pirates), Evidence Makgopa (Baroka), Teboho Mokoena (SuperSport) and Goodman Mosele (Pirates), who controversially failed to heed his last Bafana call-up for the back-to-back World Cup qualifying matches against Ethiopia early this month.
It remains to be seen whether Broos will be calling up Mosele again in future.
It should also be lauded that while the Bafana players are banging the goals at the national team level, they are also consistent when turning out for their clubs.
This gives Broos, who after Safa and the PSL agreed to meet and iron out the differences between the clubs and the national team coach, a pool of players to select from.
While the quality of football cannot be said to be top compared to the European leagues, more so the English Premier League, it is turning out to be an exciting season with twists and turns week in and week out.
The bottom line is that unfancied clubs are in the top half of the log. Royal AM, a team contentiously turned from a first division side to a top-flight campaigner through the purchasing of the status of Bloemfontein Celtic, are fourth on the log standings.
For the latest sports news from Sunday World, click here.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
Sunday World
