FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME

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There is nothing that comes close to the love I have for soccer. My best teams are Kaizer Chiefs, Arsenal and my national team Bafana Bafana. All this teams have been performing badly in the past years and at the moment its only Chiefs that looks like they have turned the Conner as they stand a chance to clinch a double this season, while Arsenal has went down to 8 seasons without any silverware and Bafana Bafana failed to make impact in the Orange Africa Cups of Nations which was held on home soil, to make it worse they are in trouble of failing to qualify for 2014 World cup which will be held at Brazil.

Amazingly I still stand behind my teams despite the poor run. I believe that everyone has his/her dark day and the sun will shine again for these teams. My mostly concerns are with Arsenal, they have turned into everyone's playground lately. They are slowly loosing the gripe as one of the top four teams of England. We have fallen behind Manchester United. We are living under their shadow as they keep on winning silverware while we can't even win the Capital Cup. The thought of doing a guard of Honor for one of our biggest rivals at our very own stadium, it was like putting a knife straight in my heart I barely looked at the TV it was painful.

Every time I go to sleep I pray for my family, friends and my teams, more especially them Arsenal. What should it take for them to realise that they have fallen so behind many teams in Europe? How many seasons should we keep up with this pain inside us as Arsenal loving fans? We the fans are the ones that feel the most pain getting behind the teams each and every game each and every season and still end up celebrating nothing but a spot for Champions league and not even make it to the semifinals.

What happened to the invincible Arsenal? Yes we have been a development for so many teams but it’s not like we do not have the money to replace the players that we have sold in the past. We are even on to of Chelsea as one of the richest teams in the world. But you will never see Arsenal spending more that 30 million on players of which Chelsea can spend on one player. I want to see back the Arsenal I know the Arsenal that made me love this tea. Yes it can't be the same but with the right quality of players it can even be much better that the invincible Arsenal. It time we get our status back as one of the biggest clubs, it time we make a statement again. But that will not come if we continue buying quantity instead of quality players.  I hope that Stan Kroenke will get to read this because the pride of Arsenal is bigger than him, it’s bigger than all of us and we must fight hard to get our pride back.

IS SPAIN ERA COMING TO AN END?



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In one stage England football used to dominate Europe. It is still the best league in the world but La Liga have been taking all the glory in the past years, with the best two players Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo playing their trade of football there. In the past 4 years Barcelona have won the Champions League two time, Inter Milan one and Chelsea last season. After the draw of the champions league semifinal we did not know what to expect in the final a German derby, Spain derby or Spain vs German. At the moment we are more likely to see a German derby in the final which will be held at Wembly on the 25 of May 2013.

On Tuesday 23 April 2013 we saw Bayern Munich do what teams from all Conner's of Europe could not do, beating Barcelona by a convincing 4-0.  It was my first time seeing a team that can match Barcelona with ball possession. Barcelona was outplayed form the first whistle. It is hard to believe that Barcelona had one shot on target.  Most of Barca fans went on to blame the coach on his decision to play Messi as claims say that he was not fit. But Barcelona is not a one man team they have proven it in there last two league games. I think Bayern had prepared well for the game as they outplayed Barca in very position and they want the cup more than Barca who has been winning everything in the past 5 years.

To rub salt on Spain pain Borussia Dortmund inflected pain in the hearts of Madrid fans and Spain football lovers when they thrashed Real Madrid 4-1 at home on Wednesday 24 April 2013. One would have thought that Real Madrid would step up for Spain reputation but they were victims to Robert Lewandowski as he wrote history by being the first player to bang in 4 goals in the semifinal stage. We must not forget that it was not the first time these teams meet in this season champions league, as they were drawn in the same group and Dortmund beat them on the home game and draw their away game at Spain.

Realistic both Barcelona and Madrid are out of the competition but in football there is no therefore, miracles happen but it will take more than a miracle for them to pull this one through. One would now ask if the power has shifted to the Germans. We must not forget that the German national team has always been in the thick of things even though they choke when it is important. In 2008 they went to Euro final lost to Spain. They went on to represent their country in South Africa world cup 2010 and they finished 3rd and last year Euro they were knocked out in the semifinal by Italy. One think I like about this team even though they always go down when it is important is that the bulk of their players played in all the competition  mentioned above and most of them are playing for both Bayern and Dortmund. By next week all the teams will know their destination but we must not shy away to the fact that both German teams has their one leg in the final and for Barca and Madrid they have a mountain to climb.



PROTECT THE RAPE VICTIMS

 South Africa is well-known country for its era of apartheid and freedom fighters like Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Steve Biko, and Chris Honey just to mention few. This people fought bravely for a better living for all South African citizens. But recently South Africa is known for its high rate of crime mostly rape. We are turning into a capital of rape. There are approximately 3 600 cases of rape reported everyday in our country, which means per year there is more than 1 million cases of rape.

What is the government doing about this? For me they are not doing enough a real outcry broke after the rape of the young Anenn Booysen who was gang raped and brutally murdered. Not a year has past and we again witness a brutal rape of Thandeka Madonsela who was mutilated and left for death. Most rape cases never make it to court and we will get excuses that there is less evidence to convict the rapists or the docket is missing. And this is a burden for all the rape victims who are denied the justice they deserve.

South Africa rape has escalated so much that even babies and grannies are rapped now. You find a 2 month baby rapped or a 98 granny rapped. Do you think this people deserve a chance to live with the community? Rape sentence in our country is 15 years of which i think its a slap on a wrist, all rapists deserve life sentence without parole, they deserve to rot in jail. Because in most cases some of the rapist go back for there victims after serving their sentence or attack other victims, so it’s crystal clear that they are not fit to live in a society. We should do everything to protect our rape victims no one asked for it and we do not know the pain they go through, so it is so easy for us to judge. I personally believe in an eye for an eye. If you rape a baby or granny then death penalty and life sentence fro those who rape teenagers and young women. This might be the solution to this entire epidemic