In the build-up to the Olympics, soccer writer Njabulo Ngidi profiles the players who will represent South Africa in Rio and Matshelane Mamabolo reminisces on a member of the Class of 2000 who played in a similar position.
Today they look at Tyroane Sandows and Quinton Fortune, players who made it big in Europe without having to earn their stripes in the local league.
Johannesburg - A devilish grin, with his braces showing, covered Tyroane Sandows’ face as he reminisced about the time he and Keagan Dolly formed a deadly partnership at Westbury Arsenal, wiping the floor with their opponents.
The one thing that stopped them, because defenders couldn’t, was both players joining the School of Excellence where Sandows, pictured, didn’t stay that long.“It was a very powerful combination,” Sandows said.
“We were young kids having fun. It was made more special by the fact that we won a lot of our games with big scores.“Hopefully that combination can work again now that there is the responsibility of helping South Africa.
”They will carry that responsibility in the national Under-23 team in the Olympics hosted by Brazil, a place Sandows has called home for almost a decade.
He was supposed to stay there for a week when he went there for the first time.
Ty, as his friends call him, was part of 12 boys who went to the Sao Paulo Academy in 2006 from the School of Excellence through Shona Khona – a skills development programme.
He was asked to return the following year on a full-time basis. He stayed there until 2014 before moving to his current club Gremio.
The first couple of months were tough because of the language barrier but he learnt Portuguese in a year.
When he speaks, his speech is peppered withNow he speaks with a Portuguese accent.“They found foster parents for me who spoke English when I arrived,” Sandows said.
“They helped me adapt. I went to schools where they taught in English while I learned Portuguese. After learning the language everything else became easier.”
That makes the 21-year-old an important weapon. He will serve as a translator for the rest of his teammates because he can pick up what the Brazilian players will be saying to each other in their opening match of Group A on August 4. Denmark and Iraq complete the group.
Sandows also knows what to expect from the Brazil squad made up of mostly locally-based players including his Gremio teammate Wallace.The role he will play with that information will be similar to the job he does on the field, making his teammates look good as a play-maker.
His game is effortless with skills that are a mix of South African flair and Brazil’s joga bonito. South Africans who didn’t see him exhibiting his skills in the Under-20 African Youth Championship in Senegal last year will see them at the Olympics.
“Football is a collective sport. I try to make the other players look good, especially as a No 10. That’s my role. That’s what I am about.“I will be helping the team. If that means passing to another teammate so they score, then so be it. I just want to enjoy my football and make others shine,” Sandows said.
Brazilians haven’t enjoyed football in a long time, especially in the Olympics, where their all-conquering nature hasn’t been present. That dominance was laid bare when Germany hammered their senior national team 7-1 in the semi-finals of the World Cup on home soil. Sandows was there when Brazil mourned that defeat
.“That just increases the pressure on them,” Sandows said. “Everybody was devastated. Losing the World Cup, the way they lost it at home, that just broke the people.
“They have a chance to make amends by winning a gold medal, which is something that they have never done. We need to make the most of the pressure that will be on them.”
Sandows would wear an even bigger grin if they defeat Brazil.
Fortune favours incredible Quinton
For Quinton Fortune the Olympics shouldn’t have really been a big deal.
He had, after all, achieved just about every player’s dream before South Africa’s debut at the Sydney Games in 2000.
The Capetonian had long made it in Europe, having played and won titles in Spain and calling the Theatre of Dreams that was Old Trafford his home as a Manchester United player.
Add to that the fact he had also been to the World Cup (France 98) before the trip Down Under and it was incredible that the left-footer gave his all on the not so glamorous fields of the continent as he helped Amaglug-glug earn their ticket to Sydney 2000.
Already a key member of Bafana Bafana during the Olympic qualifiers, Fortune was among those players forced by Safa to miss the away qualifier against Cameroon to great detriment.
The 2-0 loss South Africa suffered in Yauonde robbed the Sasol Super Squad of automatic qualification and left them needing to win a play-off against New Zealand.
And his influence on the squad was evidenced by the failure of Shakes Mashaba’s team to progress to the knockout – thanks to Fortune’s suspension for the final group match against Slovakia that the South Africans lost.
Before that match he had been sublime in that fantastic defeat of Brazil, during which he literally dictated the match and topped his great showing with a splendid free-kick goal.
That he went on to score at the 2002 World Cup and got a position at Manchester United post his retirement confirmed his status as one of the country’s true stars.
Saturday Star