Who has been the Best of the Best?

Rivaldo Coetzee

A litany of injuries has already thrown off course a career that should long have been sparkling in European club football rather than in the South African Premiership.

A troublesome toe injury cost him a change to go to Glasgow Celtic and his entire first season at Sundowns and has now expanded to a longer list. Hernia surgery retarded the end of this season for the 25-year-old, but he was so strong at the start of the campaign that he is an easy selection on the shortlist of the Footballer of the Season. Multiple man of the match awards in Sundowns’ unbeaten start to the campaign attest to that. If an observer of the South African league was asked to single out one player, still attached to a local club, who had the ability to make it in a top league, Coetzee would be the one. He has it all at his disposal, with craft, guile, speed and vision. It remains to be seen whether injury will continue to impact his progress and whether he