Johannesburg - So, it is true that a prophet has no honour in his own land.
How else does one begin to argue that Fifa has proven us wrong? We should be ashamed of ourselves for failing to practice fair play and letting our loyalty blind our wisdom and cloud our judgement.
Oscarine Masuluke’s name has been trending for the past two weeks, and for all the right reasons. He made the short list for the Fifa Puskás Award for the best goal. This is after he was snubbed in the local league because of the system.
Best goal
Masuluke might have mysteriously lost out on the best goal of the season award, but nature has its own form of poetic justice.
After losing to Siphiwe Tshabalala, it was fitting for the international football body to make South Africans aware of their blunder.
If anything, this proves once again that you can’t keep a good man down.
While some of us called it with headlines such as “Oscarine kicks his way into history” and continued to say “Masuluke’s goal could be a contender for the football Oscars, the Fifa Puskás Awards, in the category of best goal of the year – but only for next year’s contest as entries for this year are closed”, others saw it differently.
As much as football is a game of opinions, sometimes there is no need for that as fair play should override everything else.
But, it is not too late to atone for that moemish.
If anything, Masuluke’s nomination makes a mockery of the Absa Premiership awards and makes a rethink necessary.
Spectacular overhead shot
This is a not a popularity contest, but a competition that should be judged on merit, not club affiliation. If supporters were to vote for league champions, there would only be one winner.
We may never see a goal like this again! We were lucky to witness such a genius moment in our football lives, and we owe it to Masuluke to help him make it to the top three.
South Africans, Kaizer Chiefs supporters in particular, owe it to Masuluke after denying him the opportunity to win.
Here is a chance to redeem ourselves and right the wrongs. This would go a long way in erasing what we did to him.
The PSL really did not cover itself in glory either. Although it was boldly explained in the rules that the soccer-loving public would vote for the goal of the season, Masuluke’s spectacular overhead shot coming second best to Shabba’s was daylight robbery.
The so-called genius who turned the whole thing into a popularity contest should face the guillotine.
World's best
The league’s biggest blunder was opening up the voting process to the supporters so it could increase supporter involvement. This robbed the deserving candidate of what was due to him.
I can bet my last cent that Masuluke will probably not score such a spectacular goal or get near the nomination for the goal of the year again. This is his moment, so let’s give it to him.
The experts have spoken and it is now up to the nation to show their love for the Baroka FC goalkeeper.
If the likes of former Swedish international Henrik Larsson and Alan Shearer of England agree that Masuluke’s effort deserves the accolade of being the world’s best, who are we to argue?
There is still time for redemption – all we need to do is congest Fifa’s website with our votes to show our love for Masuluke.
After all, his victory would not only be for the PSL, but for the country and the continent.
I have done my bit – it is your turn now. This is the right thing to do. Let’s make his name trend and let the world know that we – South Africans and Africans – love each other.
Go to fifa.com to cast your vote
Follow me on Twitter @TimSpiritMolobi