His strengths include good distribution, communication with defenders and ability to deal with one-on-one situations.

Younger and less experienced goalkeepers such as Jackson Mabokgwane and Thembalethu Moses will definitely learn a lot from working with Marlin who has played for Michau Warriors, Seven Stars, Cape Town Spurs, Ajax Cape Town and SuperSport United. Marlin has been capped by Bafana Bafana, SA B and has won numerous major cup competitions his during his glittering career.

He had last featured for Platinum Stars in their 0-1 defeat against Ajax Cape Town on September 30. Since then, he watched from the bench and it became increasingly clear that he stood very little chance of disposing current Stars number one Tapuwa Kapini.

Sandilands has until recently been on the Kaizer Chiefs radar but the Amakhosi could not secure his signature and settled for Arthur Bartman from National first Division side Bay United.

The 26-year-old Sandilands began his club career with SuperSport United, having come through the SuperSport-Feyenoord Youth Academy, but made just two first-team appearances for Matsatsantsa, both in African club competition, before joining Platinum Stars ahead of the 2005/06 season, initially on loan before making the move permanent.

He made his debut for Platinum Stars on the opening day of the campaign in a 1-0 defeat to Sundowns and would go on to play in all but three matches for Stars as he had an excellent first full season in the Premiership.

The following year brought trophy success as he was in goals for the 2006 Telkom Knockout Final as Stars beat Ajax Cape Town 3-1 to claim their first-ever major title. Sandilands has been capped at national Under-17, Under-20 and Under-23 level.

Mdledle's consistent hard work that saw him accumulate 26 appearances in his maiden season paid off when he won the club's 'Discovery of the Year' award, a great sign of many more to come. "I was happy that I managed to play in my first season with the team, as I never thought that I would command a regular place so quickly with a club of Orlando Pirates’ caliber. The less said about the award, the better- I was shocked and left speechless," confessed Mdledle.

"But having said that, I have always believed in my abilities and knew that should I get a chance to play, I will grab it with both hands, which is exactly what I have done."

The harder-than-snails defender who possess a no-nonsense image and puts fear to opposing forwards, raised the bar as he continued with his roller coaster performance in the PSL showing character and dedication throughout the 2006/07 season, and thus lifting the club's ‘Player of the Season’ trophy.

"That was the best moment of my life. I was very excited and felt humbled to win the ‘Player of the Season’ award in such a short period with the club. I was dearly moved by the fact that my career keeps improving every season, as I was also a regular figure in the national Under 23 team,” said Mdledle.

"I knew I have raised many peoples' hopes and it was very important to keep the momentum going in the following season. I personally think I did well during the 2007/08 period despite some injury setbacks, and I hope to do much better this season (referring to 2008/09).

A reliable and tough left back who goes by the nickname 'Going-Up' as his play is associated to that of former Bucs stalwart David Nyathi, has proven himself as a key player with the ability to get forward and add numbers in attack, something synonymous with past greats such a Nyathi himself, Edward 'Magents' Motale and Innocent Chikoya. However, growing up as a youngster, Mdledle looked-up to another Bucs star Bernard 'Shoes' Lushozi as his role model, and there is no question about it. “A lot of people saw Lushozi as being rough, but I saw him as a tough defender who always made his presence felt. That’s exactly where I want to be as it is very important for a defender to command his area."

"I really feel inspired to be compared to all these great players, so I see it as a big challenge living up to these comparisons; particularly David Nyathi who has achieved a lot for both Pirates and Country. Interestingly, David is from Mpumalanga...same as me,” said Mdledle.

What many people don’t know is that the national Under 23 and Bafana Bafana international who only realized his full potential at Shakes XI (an amateur team) before joining People's Bank Spurs, almost signed for Jomo Cosmos before being spotted and recruited to the Buccaneers by Technical director Augusto Palacios.

"I trained with Cosmos’ reserves back in 2004 for two weeks. They were interested to sign me, but my team was not prepared to let me go immediately because we were challenging for promotion to the Mvela Golden League (First Division).

Then, Augusto Palacios came into the picture and made sure that I signed with Orlando Pirates. I am very grateful to the opportunity he gave me and I will forever cherish his overall contribution in my career so far."

CAREER CAREER

Source/previous clubs: Peoples’ Bank Spurs (Vodacom League), Shakes XI (amateur)

PSL debut (Pirates): 06 August 2005 (Orlando Pirates 1-0 Black Leopards)

HONOURS

Club level: 2008/09 Telkom Charity Cup winner, SAA Supa 8 runner-up, Telkom Charity Cup runner-up, Vodacom Challenge runner-up, (all in 2007/08), Vodacom Challenge winner, PSL runner-up, Absa Cup runner-up (all in 2005/06)

National level: Bafana Bafana, Under-23 international

Coach Hristo Stoichkov has shown confidence in the youngster and he was never disappointed. Xulu for his part has never been overawed by the big stage. He has been impressive in almost every single game he has played this season, in the process dishing out humble pie to those who had predicted he would struggle to crack it at the Brazilians.

Tsholofelo “Teko “ Modise was born in Meadowlands, but grew up in Diepkloof, Soweto. He is the third in a family of three children (a brother and a sister). His football career started with Coventry and City Rebels at amateur level, and then he joined Ria Stars as a raw 17-year-old after being recommended to the club by former Orlando Pirates star Steve Mnguni.

Two years later, at 19-years-old, Modise made his PSL debut in the 1-all draw against Wits University (now Bidvest Wits) on 2 September 2010. But, unfortunately, Stars became defunct at the end of the 2001/02 season, which left the talented youngster without many choices; hence he joined City Pillars in the Mvela Golden League.

Professional career background

Teko’s period with Pillars was a very successful one, though as a team they did not do so well in the first division league, Modise was amongst the top goalscores in the league, also walked away with the Mvela Player of the Season honours in May 2006.

Hardly three months down the line, in August of the same year to be precisely, Modise joined SuperSport United under the tutelage of then Bafana Bafana assistant coach Pitso Mosimane, and subsequently showed why Pillars - a team that he spent most of his playing career in the first division with were so reluctant to let him go.

Having spent only one season with Matsatsantsa, Modise made a dream move to Pirates and has never looked back. In fact, since his big move from SuperSport to Pirates in the 2007/08 season, Teko was a success story of local football - and arguably the country’s most admired player of the modern era.

Modise’s starring performances in Bucs colours in his first season with the club, as well as for Bafana Bafana in the same season (2007/08) saw him winning the inaugural PSL Footballer of the Year, as well as SAFA‘s Best Footballer of the Year honours.

In his second season with Pirates, Mzansi’s finest, also known as the General continued where he left off by pulling out a series of scintillating performances for Pirates and Bafana.

Modise helped the club to reach the final of the Telkom Knockout Cup and he was the captain of the team during our 4-1 win over AmaZulu in the final league game of the 2008/09 season, unfortunately, Bucs narrowly lost the PSL title to SuperSport on goal difference after both teams finished equal on 55 points.

Furthermore, Modise ended the season as Pirates’ second highest goal scorer, scoring a total of seven goals in 31appearances in all competitions (PSL and Cup games), and then made history when he successfully retained his prestigious PSL Footballer of the Year award, also, went on to win the league’s Player’s Player of the Season award for the 2008/09 campaign.

Teko’s talent caught the eye of overseas scouts and was once a target of English Premier League clubs Aston Villa, Wigan Athletic, Manchester City and Birmingham City, as well as Italian giants AC Milan and Inter Milan all bidding to have Modise in their books. But it was his current employers Mamelodi Sundowns followed through on their expressed interest by bringing the player to Chloorkop, where he continues to shine for the Brazilians.

International career backround

Although Modise never played for any of the age-limit national teams in South Africa, he accomplished his international recognition when he made his debut for the Senior National Team (Bafana Bafana) against Malawi on 26 May 2007 during the 2007 COSAFA Castle Cup, and the South Africans went on to win the trophy.

Modise’scored his first international goal in the same tournament against Mauritius on May 27, and went on to lift the COSAFA Castle Cup Player of the Tournament award.

The following year, Modise was deservedly selected to represent his country in the 2008 CAF African Nations Cup in Ghana, and he was named to the S.A. Roster for the 2008 African Nations Cup tournament in Ghana.

Modise also played for South Africa during the 2009 FIFA CONFEDERATIONS Cup, South Africa.

On 14th June 2009; he was awarded the Budweiser Man of the Match award in the opening game of the Confederations Cup 2009 against Iraq. Since then, Modise featured in all five matches in the competition, including clashes against champions Brazil and Spain in the third and fourth play-offs match.

The South African football superstar has been a member of Bafana Bafana World Cup Squad in all training camps in 2010-it all started in Durban (15-28 January), and then Brazil (7 March-5 April), followed by another camp in Germany (12-30 April), before the Provisional Squad went into the final training camp in Johannesburg from 5-31 May.

Modise, who reached his 50th cap for Bafana Bafana in the 1-all draw against Bulgaria at the Orlando Stadium on 24 May 2010, and has also been the captain of the squad in all Bafana’s practice and friendly international matches ahead of the World Cup…is most certainly one of the country’s key players for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, South Africa.

Overall, Modise’s major individual awards include PSL Footballer of the year (2008/09 & 2007/08); PSL Player’s Player of the season (2008/09, SAFA‘s Best Footballer of the Year (2007/08); COSAFA Castle Cup Player of the Tournament (2007), and Mvela Golden League Player of the Season (2005/06).

He also won the Kick-Off magazine Footballer of the Season and Soccer Laduma newspaper Player of the Season awards both in 2008/09 season.

Moriri is one of the longest serving players at Sundowns and has contributed to the success of the team in the years that he has been at Chloorkop. Some of the highlights of his stay at Sundowns include wining the PSL player of the Season and representing Bafana Bafana at international tournaments.

On the field, Nyandoro is fearless lion who does the often thankless job mobbing up the midfield but that’s what has brought him success as a player. Nyandoro undoubtedly has a bright future both here at Sundowns and with the Zimbabwean national team.

He signed for Nigeria Premier League (NPL) club, Kano Pillars in January 2006 and played a big role as a midfielder in Pillars first-ever league title win in 2007/2008 season.

The midfielder left Kano Pillars and signed for Greek side, Panionios. But he made just three appearances before moving to PSL giants, Mamelodi Sundowns this year.

Okpako was called up to the Nigeria Under20 team but did not make the cut to the 2009 FIFA Under20 World Championship in Egypt under Samson Siasia. He was part of the Super Eagles team of local-based players that won the 2010 Wafu Cup in Abeokuta and that led to Lars Lagerback extending a call to him to train with the men’s team before the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa.

He played a key role in helping United to two successive league titles and was snatched by cross-town rivals Sundowns at the start of the 2009-10 season

Mphela is one of the deadliest strikers in South Africa and a lot is expected from him in the coming seasons he is going to spent with the club.