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AFCON

GARY LEMKE’S WRAP: SA’s sporting golden period, goals-galore in Premier League and more!

Gary Lemke reckons South Africa has entered a ‘Golden Period’ sports-wise and looks as Bafana enter the last four at AFCON 2023. Elsewhere, the Premier League goals continue to fly in, the Proteas sturggle as the SA20 continues and more!
South Africa players watch the penalty shootout v Cape Verde
Image: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix

Gary Lemke reckons South Africa has entered a ‘Golden Period’ sports-wise and looks as Bafana enter the last four at AFCON 2023. Elsewhere, the Premier League goals continue to fly in, the Proteas sturggle as the SA20 continues and more!

Two women looking excitedly at cellphone

WE’RE IN A GOLDEN PERIOD OF SA SPORT

Dare we whisper it, but South African sport is enjoying its best run since 1996. I’ll remind you of the state of the nation 28 years ago. The Springboks were Rugby World Champions, Bafana Bafana were African champions and Team SA won three golds at the Atlanta Olympics.

Now it’s 2024: the Springboks are Rugby World Champions, Bafana Bafana are in the semi-finals of Afcon, Dricus du Plessis is UFC middleweight champion, Dylan Frittelli has won on the DP World Tour and South Africa’s Under-19 cricketers are in their World Cup semi-finals. Plus, we have the Paris Olympics to look forward to. And it’s only the first week of February.

WILLIAMS THE HERO AS BAFANA WIN

Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Ronwen Williams pulled off four heroic saves in the penalty shootout, and also made a match-winning stop in the first period of extra-time, as South Africa booked a semi-final showdown with Nigeria at AFCON.

How their match with Cape Verde ended goalless after 120 minutes is unfathomable, but it was an entertaining game where one goal always looked likely to settle the issue. Instead, it came down to the lottery of a shootout, and Bafana are now one step closer to emulating Neil Tovey’s squad of 1996.

The other semi-final sees hosts Ivory Coast meet DR Congo. Some will be calling for Williams to be picked up by a top European club, but against him is the fact he’s already 32. However, he looks a good bet to be named Afcon 2023 Goalkeeper of the Tournament.

GAUTENG GUINEAS WINNERS SHOW THEIR CLASS

We tipped the 4/1 all to come as our only bet for the Turffontein meeting on Saturday, and the horses who came home were Zeus, Gimme A Nother and Sandringham Summit and they won by a combined distance of over eight lengths. Sure, they were all favourites, but in punting you have to know which favourites to have your money on.

Gimme A Nother was hugely impressive in winning the Gauteng Fillies Guineas, while Sandringham Summit bounced back to his best in the Gauteng Guineas. Both can lay claim to being the best of the girls’ and boys’ three-year-olds in the country and not too many people would have any argument.

FRITELLI PICKS UP THIRD DP WORLD TOUR WIN

Dylan Frittelli picked up his third DP World Tour (formerly European Tour) trophy when he showed character to win the Bahrain Championship. A long birdie putt on the 16th sealed matters after he’d momentarily slipped behind after leading through 54 holes. Fellow South Africans Zander Lombard and Ockie Strydon also put their names onto the top four of the final leaderboard. In the LIC Golf event in Mexico, Dean Burmester earned $1.25m for finishing tie third with Jon Rahm, while Louis Oosthuizen took home $457,500, Charl Schwartzel $135,200 and Branden Grace $60,000. Frittelli’s winner’s cheque was $425,000.

BOK FANS CAN’T WAIT FOR IRISH VISIT

Ireland stuck their names up as potential Six Nations Championship winners when producing an enterprising display to beat France 38-17 in Marseille, while England and Scotland recorded close wins over Italy (27-24) and Wales (27-26), respectively. It means all three away teams won.

The Irish should go on to lift the trophy, given each country plays one another once, but it was a sharp comedown for the French who played with 14 men for long periods after Paul Willemse was first yellow-carded, and then red-carded. South African fans will already be licking their lips in anticipation for July’s visit from Ireland, who will play the world champions in two Tests, in Pretoria and Durban.

GOALS GALORE (AGAIN) IN EPL

Another crazy round in the Premier League, with Saturday’s five matches producing 26 goals. Eight goals were scored in a game for the third time this season when Newcastle drew 4-4 with Luton Town, which is the second time this season the Magpies have been involved in an eight-goal game. They beat Sheffield United 8-0 earlier in the season.

The other eight-goal result was the 4-4 draw between Chelsea and Man City. The goals didn’t stop on Sunday, with Wolves beating Chelsea 4-2, Man United beating West Ham 3-0, Bournemouth and Forest drawing 1-1 and Arsenal 3-1 winners over Liverpool. A total of 41 goals in only nine games.

PROTEAS STRUGGLE AS SA20 MOVES FORWARD

Pretoria Capitals and MI Cape Town missed out on the playoffs of the SA20 competition, with Durban Super Giants, Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Johannesburg Super Kings being the four teams still standing.

Tuesday’s match sees DSG playing Sunrisers Eastern Cape and Wednesday it’s the Joburg Super Kings against Paarl Royals. In International Test action, India and England are set for a thrilling finish, while an inexperienced Proteas squad – sacrificed at the altar of THE SA20 competition – were struggling against hosts New Zealand.

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