No Senzo replacement for Eagles' cracker yet

South Africa coach Ephraim 'Shakes' Mashaba has named a 26 man squad to prosecute the last two Group A qualifiers of the Caf/Orange Africa Cup of Nations to be hosted by Morocco.

The Bafana Bafana will square up against Sudan and Nigeria in the two remaining qualifiers as they look to qualify for the biennial competition.

The team will face Sudan on November 15th at the Moses Madiba Stadium in Durban, hometown of the departed goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa before heading to Nigeria to play the Super Eagles in Uyo.

Mashaba was to announce the squad on October 30th but it had to postponed due to the unfortunate death of Senzo Meyiwa who also doubled as the captain of the side.

Sitting on top Group A with 8 points, Bafana Bafana will look to keep their place at the summit when the team meets up on Sunday November 9th and head down to Durban for the final leg of preparations.

While in Durban, the team will visit Meyiwa's grave and also meet with the late goalkeepers family to pay their respects to them.

The death of the 27 year old will surely be missed by South Africa as he has been an inspiration during the qualifiers keeping clean sheets as Bafana Bafana are yet to concede in the on-going qualifiers.

Captain and motivator:

Senzo Meyiwa alongside Andile Jali and Sibusiso Vilakazi were the main men in a new look South Africa side assembled by coach Mashaba.

The team has surprised everyone with their run so far in the qualifiers and Meyiwa has been in the fore front in the chase for a ticket to Morocco 2015 before his untimely death.

He was fantastic in the two away games in Sudan and Congo as South Africa earned maximum points on the road.

His heroics in Pointe Noire against the Red Devils made a him a hero back home considering he is a back up to first choice goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune who is out injured at the moment.

Meyiwa was an motivator and a captain who led by example. He was also a leader off the field as he kept on reminding,k the players the job is not yet done.

Shake's dilemma

Bafana Bafana coach Shakes Mashaba has big call to make before the Sudan game as he has to make a choice of who will man the posts as well as who will be he substantive captain in the continued absence of Itumeleng Khune.

Three goalkeepers have been called for the the Sudan/Nigeria games-Darren Keet from Belgian side KV Kortijik, Siyabonga Mpontshane of Platinum Stars and Brilliant Khuzwayo who also deputises for Khune at Kaizer Chiefs.

Darren Keet, who has been part of the previous squads is favorite to be between the sticks against Sudan but Khuzwayo who has been in great form for table topping Kaizer Chiefs is also a prime candidate for the number one spot.

The young shot stopper has been in the fore front of Kaizer Chiefs excellent start to the new Premier Soccer League (PSL) and has been tipped for great things. He has done admirably well in the absence of the crocked Khune.

Mashaba also has to decide who will captain the side. Andile Jali has been influential in midfield for South Africa during the qualifiers and will surely be someone Mashaba will look at to lead the troops.

Racing Genk defender Anele Ngcongca will also be a prime candidate to be captain of the team, then there is also the veteran Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Reneilwe Letsholonyane who is the oldest player in the current squad. Although Letsholonyane has lost his starting spot in the team, his experience will also count in his favor.

Whoever he chooses to man the sticks or lead the team, Mashaba has already sounded out the war cry to his team as they prepare to meet Sudan in Durban.

South Africa will wear black arm bands to honor Senzo Meyiwa when they host Sudan on November 15th.

Full Bafana Bafana squad:

Goalkeepers: Darren Keet (KV Kortrijk, Belgium), SiyabongaMpontshane (Platinum FC),Brilliant Khuzwayo (Kaizer Chiefs FC)

Defenders: Anele Ngcongca (Racing Genk, Belgium), Siyabonga Nhlapho(Bidvest Wits),Sibusiso Khumalo (Super Sport United), Luvolwethu Mpeta (PlatinumStars), Erick Mathoho (Kaizer Chiefs), Ntsikelelo Nyauza (OrlandoPirates), Rivaldo Coetzee (Ajax Cape Town), Kwanda Mngonyama(Maritzburg United), Tefu Mashamaite (Kaizer Chiefs)

Midfielders: Thulani Serero (Ajax Amsterdam, Netherlands), May Mahlangu (IFK Goteborg, Sweden),Themba Zwane (Mamelodi Sundowns), Fagrie Lakay (Santos),Oupa Manyisa (Orlando Pirates), Andile Jali (KV Oostende, Belgium),Dean Furman (Doncaster Rovers, England), Mandla Masango, ReneilweLetsholonyane (Kaizer Chiefs),

Strikers: Sibusiso Vilakazi (Bidvest Wits), Bongani Ndulula (Amazulu),Tokelo Rantie (AFC Bournemouth, England), Lehlohonolo Majoro, Kermit Erasmus (Orlando Pirates)

Nigeria, Ghana vie for Transformation Cup

Nigeria's Super Eagles will face their Ghanaian counterparts in an international friendly at the new Akwa Ibom International Stadium in Uyo this Friday.

The warm-up game between the two West African nations is to officially open the new stadium, which is also known as the Nest of Champions, and the winners of the one-day friendly will receive the Transformation Cup for their efforts.

Match commissioner, Etubom Paul Bassey, disclosed at the pre-match meeting on Thursday that a trophy is at stake, and that gold and silver medals will be awarded to the winners and losers of the friendly match.

He also explained that the Transformation Cup will become an annual event, but that the trophy will not be won for keeps.

For the friendly, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has opted to present its under-23s to face Nigeria's squad made up of players from the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).

Interestingly, the Ghanaian under-23s is coached by Malik Jabir, who was once in the books of Nigerian champions, Kano Pillars. Jabir will lead a team of 18 playing personnel for the battle for the Transformation Cup on Friday.

Jabir's Olympic team will come under serious test from a Nigerian squad that have free-scoring NPFL players like Enyimba's Mfon Udoh, Emem Eduok of Dolphins, Osaguona Ighodaro of Enugu Rangers, Gbolahan Salami of Warri Wolves, Sharks playmaker Christian Pyagbara and Rabiu Ali of Kano Pillars.

The six players have scored 99 league goals among them this season in Nigeria.

NPFL leading scorer, Mfon Udoh, who has netted a record 21 goals, told supersport.com that the match against Ghana presents them the chance to prove they can re-enact their league performance at the big stage.

"I am looking forward to the game. We have been told that games between Nigeria and Ghana are always explosive, and that pride is always at stake. As a team we are ready to give our best, and I believe by God's grace that this will be a take-off point for us to prove ourselves," Udoh, who will be playing in front of his hometown fans, told supersport.com.

The match, which will be refereed by Ferdinand Udoh, will go into penalties in the event of a stalemate after 90 minutes.

The Nigeria versus Ghana match is live on SuperSport 3, SuperSport 9 and Select from 6pm local time (7pm CAT).

Lahm - October’s Player of the Month

Philipp Lahm has helped shape the Bundesliga for quite some time, but it wasn’t just his pass accuracy, vision and presence that was so impressive in October; Lahm netted a Bundesliga brace (plus 1 assist).

As usual, the Bayern captain also helped provide the necessary stability in defence, with FCB not conceding a single league goal in October.

He also led the German record champions to a sensational 7-1 win at AS Roma in the Champions League, FC Bayern’s biggest ever away win in European competition.

From FT Gern to FC Bayern

Philipp Lahm is the only Munich-born first-team player at FCB. His career began at local club Freie Turnerschaft München-Gern. Lahm joined FC Bayern in 1995 and has remained a loyal servant to the club ever since. However, in order to give him plenty of playing time in his early years as a pro, Lahm was sent out on loan to VfB Stuttgart for two years from summer 2003. He made a total of 53 Bundesliga appearances for VfB (2 goals) and his first seven top-flight games all resulted in clean sheets – this meant that Lahm had a hand in the longest run without conceding a goal for a goalkeeper in Bundesliga history: Timo Hildebrand went 882 minutes without having to pick the ball out the back of his net. Bayern keeper Manuel Neuer managed a 668-minute-long run without conceding this season, before Dortmund’s Marco Reus netted a header on matchday 10 in FCB’s 2-1 win.

Lahm managed to establish himself at FCB following his return from Stuttgart; featuring in at least 20 Bundesliga games per campaign – the current captain even played in all 34 top-flight games in three different campaigns, featuring in the starting XI in each of those matches. He also made 79 consecutive appearances without missing a single minute. Despite being a predominantly defensive minded player, Lahm has been involved in at least one goal in each of his Bundesliga seasons. He even had a hand in 11 goals in the 2012/13 campaign – a personal best. Only teammate Franck Ribery (14) assisted more goals than Lahm in that season (11, the same as Thomas Müller).

Lahm doesn’t do things by halves

The FCB captain has won the Bundesliga title an impressive five times: in 2006, 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2014. Of the currently active players, only teammate Bastian Schweinsteiger has won more German Championships (7) – the all-time record holders are Mehmet Scholl and Oliver Kahn (8 titles each). As if that wasn’t enough, Lahm has also won the DFB Cup in each of those five seasons.

201 Bundesliga wins in 323 games

Bayern’s 6-0 win against SV Werder Bremen on Matchday 8 was Lahm’s 200th Bundesliga victory. Only 27 players in the history of the top flight have won more games. The record holder is Oliver Kahn with 310 wins. Of the currently active players, only teammates Claudio Pizarro (210) and Bastian Schweinsteiger (208) are ahead of Lahm.

Lahm could overtake illustrious names such as Andreas Möller and Mehmet Scholl in the near future.

Lahm shows unfamiliar goalscoring instinct

FC Bayern collected seven points in their three Bundesliga games in October, scoring 10 goals without reply. Lahm was involved in three goals, setting up one in the 4-0 win over Hannover, before scoring twice from his three shots in the 6-0 victory against Bremen – he had never scored more than one goal in a competitive game for a professional side before (487 previous matches). On top of that, an incredible 94percent of his passes found a teammate in October. That is the best pass accuracy of all players that featured for at least half an hour.

Precise Lahm: 89percent pass accuracy

Lahm has some remarkable records to his name in the timeframe from when his Bundesliga career began on matchday 1 of the 2003/04 campaign until now:

The most Bundesliga games: 323.

The most wins: 201.

The most touches of the ball: 23 220 (72 per game).

The most passes: 17 622 (55 per game).

The best pass accuracy of all players with at least 17 appearances: 89percent.

Also, Lahm has only picked up a yellow card every 16 games on average in his Bundesliga career and has never been sent off, despite almost always being deployed at full back or in defensive midfield.

Philipp Lahm has shown he is a versatile player throughout his career and has proven himself to be among the world’s best in multiple positions, something only a handful of players have done before him. Depending on his different coaches’ thinking over the years, Lahm has switched between playing at right-back and left-back, consistently performing to an incredible standard in both roles.

Lahm, a composed player on the ball, was handed another new role for the 2013/14 campaign due to Pep Guardiola’s possession-oriented playing style. “He is the most intelligent player that I have ever coached,” said the Bayern head coach of his captain, who has predominantly been deployed in central midfield since.

Lahm’s change of position carried over into the Germany national team, with coach Joachim Löw also opting to use his captain in central midfield at the start of the 2014 Fifa World Cup. However, with his defence looking anything but solid, particularly in the last-16 clash with Algeria (2-1 win a.e.t.), Lahm returned to right-back, a decision which later proved to be key in Germany’s title success.

Success at international level: 2014 world champion!

After Lahm tasted defeat in two Uefa Champions League finals with Bayern (2010 and 2012, with the latter coming in Munich), he finally won Europe’s elite competition with FCB in 2013, beating German rivals Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in the final.

He also went on to win the Fifa Club World Cup later in the year. Lahm has won every major trophy at club level and was able to follow up that success with the Germany national team by lifting the World Cup in Brazil in 2014.

Lahm made his senior debut for Germany in February 2004 in a 2-1 friendly win over Croatia. Going back to Uefa EURO 2004, the Bavarian is the only player that has featured in all of Germany’s matches at European Championships or World Cups in that timeframe, with three of his five international goals coming at major tournaments.

The national team have improved since an early exit at Portugal 2004, reaching at least the semifinals of each major competition since then. Germany even reached the final of EURO 2008, but lost 1-0 to Spain. Lahm took over from Michael Ballack as captain ahead of the 2010 World Cup and led his nation to a long-awaited victory in 2014, with the German side producing some scintillating football along the way. Following the success, Lahm retired from international duty having earned 113 caps. Only three players have made more senior appearances for Germany than Lahm.

Pizarro out for weeks with injury

Bayern Munich striker Claudio Pizarro will be sidelined for several weeks after picking up a muscle injury in training this week, the Bundesliga leaders said on Wednesday.

The 36-year-old substitute striker, who has played in nine games in all competitions this season and scored one goal, tore muscle fibre in his right thigh during training on Monday.

"This is really bitter," the Peruvian former Werder Bremen forward, who is the Bundesliga's all-time top foreign striker, said in a statement.

"I'll keep my fingers crossed that the team continues their good run."

Bayern are top in the Bundesliga and will advance to the Champions League knockout stage if they beat Roma later on Wednesday.

BVB seek Bundesliga turn-around

Borussia Dortmund make another attempt to carry their sparkling Champions League form into the Bundesliga but face a stern test against in-form Borussia Moenchengladbach on Sunday.

Dortmund routed Galatasaray 4-1 on Tuesday to qualify early for the knock-out rounds in Europe with a maximum 12 points from four games and an impressive goal difference of 13-1.

Only Italy's Juventus have ever had a marginally better start into the elite event with a goal difference of 14-2 from four wins in 1995-96.

In the Bundesliga, Dortmund have not won since the mid-September start of the Champions League - placed a shocking second last with just seven points, on a winless run of seven games and five straight defeats for an overall league-worst seven losses in 10 games.

While shining against Arsenal, Anderlecht and Galatasaray, the winless league run sees defeats against Mainz, arch-rivals Schalke, Hamburg, Cologne, Hanover and leaders Bayern Munich.

Now the 2011 and 2012 champions face Moenchengladbach, who are unbeaten in 17 games in all competitions and rank third in the Bundesliga, four behind Bayern.

"In our situation it's important to have positive experiences, even if this is a different competition," coach Juergen Klopp said after Tuesday's game.

"We have taken a step forward in terms of fitness. But everyone knows what's at stake on Sunday. But it's also important to enjoy the feeling of winning as it might make you want more of it."

Dortmund took heart from last weekend's narrow 2-1 defeat in Munich, and Klopp opted for stability when he fielded the same starting line-up against Galatasaray than against Munich.

"It's about stability. We thought it's what the team needs right now. And they weren't that tired from the Bayern game. We now have five days to recover. That's why we made that decision. We need a development, and you could see one," he said.

In order to get a first Bundesliga win since a 3-1 against Freiburg on September 13, Dortmund need to finally convert the chances they get.

Kicker sports magazine said Thursday that while Dortmund scored in 40.6 percent of their chances on the continent (13 of 32), the ratio is a shocking 17.2 percent in the league (11 of 64).

Sports director Michael Zorc suggested that Dortmund's scoring opportunities in the Champions League were clearer than in the Bundesliga because they are given more space by opponents there.

Moenchengladbach are where Dortmund would like to be in the league, are ruthless on the break, and beat Dortmund in both games last season.

Patrick Herrmann and Andre Hahn stand out in Lucien Favre's team but Herrmann insists that "anyone can score, that makes us so strong."

Dortmund have two more rest days though, as Moenchengladbach were set to play in the Europa League game in Cyprus at Apollon Limassol on Thursday night.

The other Sunday game sees second-placed Wolfsburg aiming for a sixth straight victory, in a northern German duel against SV Hamburg. The round opens Friday with Hertha Berlin v Hanover.

Unbeaten Bayern, who like Dortmund have qualified for Champions League last 16, are without injured David Alaba and Claudio Pizarro when they take their four-point lead to Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday.

The day's other games are Bayer Leverkusen v Mainz, Augsburg v Paderborn, Hoffenheim v Cologne, Freiburg v Schalke and Bremen v Stuttgart.

The scheduling means that Dortmund will be dead last by the time they play Moenchengladbach if current bottom club Bremen get at least a draw against Stuttgart.

Everton up for historic Lille visit

Roberto Martínez says anticipation is high at Everton FC as LOSC Lille come to town for their 100th European game, with the Toffees looking to consolidate their place at the top of Uefa Europa League Group H.

The teams played out a goalless draw in northern France on matchday three, leaving Everton a point ahead of VfL Wolfsburg, two clear of LOSC and three in front of FC Krasnodar. Martínez is banking on home support to make the difference on Merseyside.

"It's easy to say that we really enjoyed our home game against Wolfsburg [a 4-1 win] and the other two away games have been phenomenal experiences," the manager said. "You're looking at playing at Goodison under the floodlights facing French opposition [at home] for the first time in our history, which is some stat. We're all really, really excited."

Martínez is keen for his side to cement their position against a LOSC outfit who have failed to score in four of their five visits to England. "[There's been] a real buzz about Goodison and it's really exciting looking forward to our home games. This group is very tight – six games so far and four draws – so we're really looking forward to making Goodison work to our advantage."

Everton's former LOSC forward Kevin Mirallas will be absent with a hamstring injury while defender Antolin Alcaraz dislocated a shoulder during Saturday's goalless Premier League draw against Swansea City AFC. "We're enjoying the demands of this season, and the Europa League has brought a different challenge to the squad," Martínez continued. "We're starting to get the rewards from that. We have got 23 outfield players and they've all shown what they can do for the team."

LOSC have drawn all three matches so far, and will be missing injured pair Marcos Lopes and Jonathan Delaplace at Goodison Park. They did not win a single game in October, leaving them 12th in Ligue 1, but coach René Girard remains optimistic.

"I prefer not to talk about the future or the past, I prefer to talk about the present," he said. "The here and now is preparing for this game and I would say that we are all fine. They are good in their minds, their minds are focused, and everything is going well within the group of players."

Of Everton he added: "I believe that their league position at the moment [ninth] belies the quality that they have as a team. I consider Everton to be a top-five side in that league. They have some great players. Up front they've got players who can hurt you and even at the back they've got players like [Seamus] Coleman, who is also very good going forward – lots of quality throughout the side.

"A lot of the time when you think of English football in France you think of sides that are very physical and have got a lot of fighting spirit. However, this side know how to play football.

Building brilliance the Southampton way

We don't buy success, we build it' - there could hardly be a more fitting ethos for a football club saved by a construction machinery magnate and now owned by his daughter.

Certainly, it is an ethos currently reaping rich rewards on the south coast of England.

That is not to say Katharina Liebherr's Southampton Football Club has shallow pockets, it just chooses carefully where to spend its money, shown by Wednesday's unveiling of a new £40 million training centre to the west of the city.

Staplewood is a complex the club believes will continue bearing fruit like former academy alumni Theo Walcott, Luke Shaw and Adam Lallana, and the world's most expensive footballer Gareth Bale.

"The secret?" laughs head of football development Les Reed. "Put it this way, the sea is on one side of our catchment area, the New Forest is on another side. We are a small club with a small catchment and we have to work hard to get our talent and develop it."

Reed smiles the smile of a man proving critics wrong.

When the Saints sold Shaw to Manchester United and Lallana, Rickie Lambert and Dejan Lovren to Liverpool in the close season, when Calum Chambers also exited for Arsenal, the experts said Southampton were sunk.

They had earned millions of pounds in transfer fees but in the process had sold their ambition, according to critics.

Players and managers past and present lined up to offer their wisdom that Southampton were a selling club, forever to feed the more ambitious.

Reed kept his counsel then, as a raft of players quit, to be joined by manager Mauricio Pochettino who left for Tottenham Hotspur.

"We are second in the league," he told Reuters on Wednesday, against the backdrop of their centre of alchemy where callow talent is transformed into the finest footballers in the land.

FORENSIC DETAIL

That statement, delivered with another smile, seems sufficient testament to Southampton's methods. For now.

If hard work is the secret of Southampton's success, it is closely twinned with an attention to detail as obsessive as it is forensic.

The club has developed its own bespoke software to analyse every aspect of a game and of a player.

Paul Mitchell, the club's head of scouting and recruitment will not reveal how much the club spent on creating this tool.

"I don't want any other clubs budgeting for something similar," he said with a shake of his head when asked, standing in what Southampton call their Black Box: a room with a Star Trek-style console and giant screen.

In the room next door a bank of 10 young data analysts pore over football action on their screens, tapping keyboards and taking notes. Across the room, a more seasoned group of men sit at terminals. These are the scouts.

"We do not recruit on top of talent," Mitchell said. "We look carefully at every aspect of a player, and we will not pay to buy in a player when we have already spent money training one up.

"The team here identifies potential targets, but what we do here is not a proven science. What it does, though, is minimise the risk of mistakes, and helps get the best fit for Southampton."

Mitchell's remarks hit the bullseye of the club's policy.

"We work with six and seven year olds," academy manager Matt Hale said. "But we can only sign Under 9s. But then we get to work with them for 10 years."

CONVEYOR BELT OF TALENT

It is little wonder Southampton has become a conveyor belt of talent. The entire campus is based around progression – from one entrance gate and one set of pitches for the smallest students, to working their way up the site eventually, they hope, to the first team.

"We look to create a real path for them, a real progression. First team football has to be the goal and the path for everyone."

It is a path adorned with technological advances, which leave nothing to chance.

Last year Southampton had the lowest incidence of soft tissue injuries in the Premier League, the clubs says, which is a result of their preventative care programmes.

Players are scanned and monitored – some every day, others less frequently – to head off niggles before they become injuries.

Athletes sit in treatment rooms with different sounds and smells piped in, illuminated by different coloured lights.

"We are looking to manipulate physical change," explained head of sports medicine Mo Gimpel.

But in an army of obsessives, kit-man Mark Forbes manages to stand out.

Working away in the laundry, surrounded by shirts and shorts, tracksuits and coats adorned with the Southampton crest, Forbes lights up when talking about his washing machines.

Well he might, having spent months researching the best models and tweaking them for his own purposes.

"We have special programmes for them, depending on what type of kit we are washing," he said.

So far so, humdrum, perhaps.

"But these washing machines inject oxygen into the clothing," he adds with pride. "You know why? It is to kill the bacteria which gets into the fabric," he says with a flourish.

It is yet another minute detail taken care of, and another one designed to leave nothing to chance and keep Southampton's footballers firing the Saints towards the top of the table.