An enthralling race from top to bottom of the league
South African football has no shortage of critics and sometimes the condemnation is actually justified. Let’s face it folks, local football officials have an uncanny ability to shoot themselves in the foot, and you have to wonder at times just what in the blazes takes place behind closed doors at the Premier Soccer League’s (PSL’s) Parktown headquarters and at the South African Football Association base at Safa House.
Think about it: why does the PSL still not have a full-time CEO roughly 18 months after Brand de Villiers’s departure?
Why is the domestic season modelled on the European calendar when this puts a strain on the league programme and causes fixture congestion?
Why do we still not have a new Bafana Bafana coach five months after Ephraim ‘‘Shakes” Mashaba’s sacking?
These and many other questions come to mind when we try to make sense of the curious situations that play out in the domestic game.
At least no one can fault the players this season, and we have front-row seats to what is shaping up to be one of the best domestic campaigns in many moons. Even those who often argue that the PSL is not exciting enough, do not have a leg to stand on.
This PSL campaign has had it all: twists and turns, intrigue, tension, uncertainty, unpredictability and then some.
The coaches have come to the party and journalists have had the time of their lives picking the brains of some of the domestic game’s finest: Gavin Hunt, Pitso Mosimane, Steve Komphela, Eric Tinkler, Stuart Baxter and many others.
We are 25 days away from the end of the league campaign but putting money on the where the title is headed would be too much even for the now deceased clairvoyant octopus, Paul, which kept us entertained by correctly predicting the outcome of eight matches at the 2010 World Cup.
Cape Town City were top of the table until Sundowns bumped them off the summit after beating Golden Arrows 2-0 at Princess Magogo Stadium in Durban on Friday.
Sundowns’ stay at the top lasted three days and they were pushed off their perch after a 10 defeat to Wits on Monday. Small wonder that Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane could even afford to crack a smile after the defeat to Wits.
“It’s just an exchange of leadership at the top, I think. You have to accept it,” said Mosimane. “This thing, I don’t know how it’s going to go. It was in Cape Town City’s hands, then our hands and now it’s in Wits’ hands. It’s exchanging.”
It’s been that kind of a season and anything is possible. Even a limping Kaizer Chiefs cannot be completely ruled out of the equation. Coach Steve Komphela’s charges have been the subject of much ridicule in the past couple of days and opposition fans have taken great joy in taunting Kaizer Motaung’s club as their season continues to unravel.
While Chiefs no longer have the race in their hands, Komphela will continue to believe as long as his trusted calculator insists there is still a mathematical possibility of winning the title.
The bottom half of the table is just as enthralling and several clubs cannot say with certainty that they will be playing in the premiership next season.
There is a strong possibility that the league title and the relegation dogfight will be decided only on the final day of the season on May 27.
The excitement has made it possible to look past the disappointing number of goals that have found the back of the net (Lebogang Manyama and Tendai Ndoro’s 12 strikes).
Now if only the suits could also come to the party.
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