Legendary soccer star Jan Malombo Lechaba photo supplied
Dear soccer lover, it is my honest opinion that legendary soccer stars Ace Ntsoelengoe and Jomo Sono would forever warm the bench in modern football.
To those not acquainted to “football language,” let me explain that “warming the bench” simply means one is not fielded or given game time in a match that their team is participating in.
For Ace Ntsoelengoe and Jomo Sono, this scenario would happen to them perenially if they were still playing football nowadays.
Though acclaimed back then as “maestros,” “geniuses, ” “miracle-makers,” “stars” and “indispensable,” modern football coaches would not have tolerated their style of play because Ace Ntsoelengoe and Jomo Sono were lazy players. Finish en klaar!
Their work rate was very low and their general contribution to the collective effort of their respective teams, namely Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates left much to be desired.
I grew up watching football ardently and I have never seen Ntsoelengoe and Sono tackling a player from the opposing side or man-marking their opponents.
The duo only came to life when in possession of the ball and when not in possession they would watch the selfsame match they are playing in like supporters who have paid for their entrance to the stadium.
When not in possession Ntsoelengoe and Sono would stand respectively at the centre-line of the pitch with their hands placed by their sides and wait for the ball to be played right at their feet by their hard- working teammates.
Yet Sono and Ntsoelengoe were admired, feared and honoured by supporters and players of both Kaizer Chiefs and Pirates.
When off-form the duo would never be replaced and supporters of Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates would sheepishly nod to each other and silently concur that Sono or Ntsoelengoe are off-form.
Be that as it may, woe betide any coach who would dare to substitute them.
Ntsoelengoe and Sono were respected and were never rough-tackled on the field of play in South Africa .
Now when Sono was in possession the crowd would shout in unison: Babah…( the father) and when Ntsoelengoe was in possession of the ball the crowd would scream “Ayyyce.”
Mamelodi-based Jan Malombo Lechaba was the actual livewire at Chiefs with his natural “fetch-and-carry” style of play, and so was Toy Ramosa at Orlando Pirates.
In the 1981 Mainstay Cup final between Chiefs and Pirates Toy Ramosa collected a loose ball from the midfield and fed it to Chippa Chauke who in turn passed it to Jomo Sono to beat the advancing then Chiefs agile goalkeeper Peta Balack.
In the selfsame Mainstay Cup final of 1981, Malombo Lechaba collected a loose ball from the edges of Chiefs penalty area and ran with it until he stylishly passed it to Teenage Dladla with a curl and in turn Dladla crossed the ball to Ace Ntsoelengoe who headed it home in front of a bemused Patson Banda.
Perhaps these are not the only hardworking players worth mentioning from back in the 1980’s.
There was Harris Choeu of Witbank Aces and later Mamelodi Sundowns who fed lazy players like Thomas Ngobe and Heel Extension Mkhari balls which they wasted during the 1983 Mainstay Cup final against Moroka Swallows at Ellis Park.
There was also defensive midfielder Disco Mogola at Mamelodi Sundowns who, when the chips were down he would take it upon himself to out-dribble opponents from the centre-line of the pitch until scoring a vital goal for his team.
Coach Screamer Tshabalala turned dribbling wizard Zane Moosa into a defensive midfielder but when the chips were down Moosa would initiate good moves from deep in the midfield and end up out-dribbling the opposition players until scoring a goal.
This is what we call hardworking players.
I remember the 1983 BP Top 8 semifinal between Chiefs and Pirates which was played midweek and how then Chiefs coach Eddie Lewis shouted at an off-form Ace Ntsoelengoe to up his ante, but Ntsoelengoe reacted by pulling off his soccer jersey and walked off the field in anger.
His teammate Jan Malombo Lechaba ran to the touchline of the pitch to beg Ace Ntsoelengoe not to quit the match.
Some soccer lovers may say modern football differs significantly to 1980s football; that Sono and Ntsoelengoe were fit for purpose in that era and that it would be unfair to judge them in terms of today’s standards and requirements.
I agree wholeheartedly with this sentiment.
Sono and Ntsoelengoe were ” of that time and of that place” and would have remained nonentities in modern football.
The essence of this opinion piece, dear reader, is that there are players of yore whose style of play would still be relevant in modern football.
Their names are as follows:
1. Jan Malombo Lechaba.
2. Philemon Disco Mogola of Sundowns. 3.William Makhura of Petersburg-based Stone Breakers and Moroka Swallows later on in his career.
4. Harris Choeu of Witbank Aces and Sundowns later on in his career.
5. The late John Dungi Moeti of Orlando Pirates.
6. Teenage Dladla of Kaizer Chiefs.
7. Wire Chirwali of Bloemfontein Celtic and Sundowns later on in his career.
8. The late Sizwe Motaung of Jomo Cosmos and Sundowns later on in his career.
9. Doctor Khumalo of Kaizer Chiefs.
10. Eric Tinkler of Vitorio Setubal in Portugal.
11.Toy Dika-Jazz Ramosa.