Roni Gabriel from Richards Bay aims to start the season strongly against Polokwane City

Orlando Pirates secured a winning start to their title defense in the Betway Premiership, achieving a confident 2-0 victory over the top-division newcomers, Milford FC. The match took place on Saturday at the Orlando Amstel Arena stadium.

The first goal was scored by Oswin Apollo midway through the first half. Later, Tshepang Moremi scored the second goal in the 86th minute, allowing coach Abdelsalam Waddu to maintain maximum points at the beginning of the new season.

Betway Premiership

After Relebokhile Mofokeng moved to play in Belgium, most of the attacking burden for Pirates this season is expected to fall on Oswin Apollo, and the Bafana Bafana winger quickly made his mark. His free-kick in the 24th minute deflected off the Milford wall and went past the goalkeeper, becoming the first goal of the new Betway Premiership season.

Abdelsalam Waddu mainly relied on the core squad that won the league title last season, although young player Cameron Dansing unexpectedly featured in central midfield. Meanwhile, Milford showed no signs of being intimidated by their Premier League debut. The visitors demonstrated encouraging periods of ball possession in the first half and looked comfortable overcoming Pirates' press when opportunities arose. They also created several promising moments without causing serious problems for Sifo Cheyne.

Despite prolonged dominance in ball possession, Pirates struggled to break down Milford's compact defensive setup. Ultimately, Apollo's deflected free-kick was the decisive factor between the teams before halftime, giving the defending champions a slight advantage going into the break.

It was anticipated that Pirates' tempo would increase after the restart, but the second half proceeded similarly. The Buccaneers dominated possession but failed to create many clear scoring chances, while Milford maintained discipline and organization in defense. The home team had to wait until the hour mark before threatening the goal again, when Deon Hotto was stopped by an excellent save from the Milford goalkeeper in a one-on-one situation.

Waddu's disappointment was evident on the bench, as he demanded more urgency and clearer movements from the players, which sometimes still resembled pre-season training. Milford continued to frustrate the defending champions and briefly threatened a tense finish before Pirates finally found their second, decisive goal. Moremi received a perfectly timed pass behind him, leaving him half the field to run towards the goal. The winger remained calm, bypassed the advancing goalkeeper, and calmly slotted the ball into the empty net in the 86th minute, definitively deciding the outcome of the match.

Although Pirates may not have displayed the smoothest performance, they managed to secure three points and a clean slate to start the title defense. Milford, for its part, can draw encouragement from the disciplined play in their debut match, but they left without silverware after being punished by two high-class moments from the defending champions. In the near future, Pirates will focus on defending their MTN8 title, as the next match in that tournament is against Durban City.

The coach of the Banyana Banyana team, Disari Ellis, insists that her team still has grounds to hope for a spot in the quarter-finals of the CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, despite a difficult final stage following a dramatic 2-2 draw against Côte d'Ivoire.

The South African national team demonstrated immense character by managing to recover from a two-goal deficit. Captain Thami Kgatlana sparked the comeback with an impressive strike, and in the second half, substitute Hilda Magaia scored a dramatic late goal, which allowed them to salvage a crucial point.

This result placed Banyana at the bottom of Group B with one point after two games, trailing the leaders Côte d'Ivoire (four points), while Tanzania and Burkina Faso both have three points.

This means that Ellis's team needs to beat Burkina Faso in the last group match to have any chance of advancing to the playoffs. Furthermore, even a victory might not be enough, as Banyana's fate will also depend on the outcome of the match between Côte d'Ivoire and Tanzania, since the result is no longer entirely in South Africa's hands.

Banyana Banyana managed a 2-2 draw with Côte d'Ivoire in Casablanca. The mission continues, as their next opponent is Burkina Faso. Despite the difficult situation, Ellis is convinced that her players are capable of keeping the tournament alive.

After the match, Ellis stated: 'We are still in the game.' She added: 'All we can do is try to do our job, win the match, and score goals, because that is all we can control, and other results are out of our hands, but if we do that, we give ourselves a chance.'

Since all teams can qualify before the final round of matches, Ellis expects another tense day in Group B. She emphasized: 'We are still in the game, but when I look at the group, now for everyone in the group it is a match that must be won, so all we can do is win and wait for the final result in the match between Tanzania and Côte d'Ivoire.'

Although the coach was pleased with the resilience shown after the break, Ellis acknowledged that the team cannot afford another sluggish start if they want to overcome Burkina Faso. Banyana twice fell into the trap of Côte d'Ivoire's pace in the first half, when Grace Seri scored twice, giving the 'Lady Elephants' a significant lead before Kgatlana and Magaia inspired South Africa's fight.

Ellis noted: 'This team has shown courage and resilience, and it is not just in this game; even against Tanzania we created chances at the end and almost scored. Today we were unlucky at the end too.'

In Ellis's opinion, the plan for success was clear in the second half, when Banyana played with greater focus and determination. She believes that 'the way we played in the second half, that is how we should start the game; from the very beginning we must go all out, because that is what will be needed to get a result in the next game.'

Having kept hopes alive for WAFCON through an energetic comeback, Banyana now faces 90 minutes that could decide their tournament. A victory over Burkina Faso is critical, however, their chances of reaching the quarter-finals will ultimately depend on whether Côte d'Ivoire can deny Tanzania a result in another decisive group match.

Wojtses Schesny, the goalkeeper for Barcelona, shared his thoughts on one of the biggest goals in his football career. The 36-year-old Polish goalkeeper admitted that he still cannot forget the moment when they missed out on the English Premier League (EPL) title while playing for Arsenal.

According to Schesny, during one of the seasons spent at Arsenal, the team held leading positions in the championship for a long time but ultimately failed to win the title. He believes that their squad was the strongest in the league during that period, but a lack of experience and the youth of the players played against them.

This episode continues to bother Schesny because the EPL championship remains the only trophy he really wanted to win but could not. Nevertheless, he believes that the most wonderful period of his career was precisely during his time at Arsenal.

It is worth noting that the experienced goalkeeper left Arsenal in 2017.