Chances of Chiefs or Pirates winning title slim, and slim has left town
Mamelodi Sundowns need four points in their cakewalk to clinch the Premier Soccer League (PSL) title, but what went largely unnoticed as the Brazilians hammered Royal AM on Tuesday night was that the result mathematically eliminated their big three rivals from the race.
Five-time successive champions Sundowns went to 59 points from 23 matches with their 5-1 thrashing of Royal at Loftus Versfeld.
Third-placed Orlando Pirates and fourth-placed Kaizer Chiefs are both on 34 points from 22 games. If they earned a maximum 24 points by winning their remaining eight games, they would end on 58 points.
It is largely academic anyway. So dominant have Downs been in 2022-2023, that it is only a matter of weeks and a few matches before they are named title winners.
But that their two big rivals are mathematically out of the race with eight matches left for each to play, speaks volumes on how far behind the Brazilians Chiefs and Pirates have fallen in the era of Patrice Motsepe’s wallet.
Apart from a star-studded squad, Downs’ supremacy is also built on the impressive support that staff assembled at Chloorkop and the experience gained and put to use by the club competing in the Caf Champions League group and knockout stages each year.
Sundowns and Chiefs will take an interest in Pirates’ big match against second-placed SuperSport United (39 points) at Orlando Stadium on Saturday.
A win for Pirates will leave the race for second place wide open. It will also leave Sundowns needing just two points to clinch the title, or even a point taking into account goal difference. The forthcoming Fifa date means the Brazilians would still have to wait until April 1 for their next league match against Cape Town City at Loftus for their chance to notch those points.
Group B leaders Sundowns meet Sudan’s Al-Hilal in Omdurman in the Caf Champions League on Saturday.
Chiefs face Maritzburg United in the PSL at Harry Gwala Stadium on Saturday night.
● Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro cited champions-elect Mamelodi Sundowns’ brilliance as one of the reasons Bucs’ title fight vanished into thin air.
“We are so far [behind] in terms of the points we would have liked to collect. We have to accept that they [Sundowns] are doing an excellent job ... I think they have 19 victories in the league, it’s an excellent record. Sometimes it happens that someone is just winning, winning and that’s one of the reasons we are far [behind Sundowns],” Riveiro said on Wednesday.
“We do our own analysis and it’s not my role to analyse why they [Sundowns] are getting those results. I can say that I know why we are far behind ... imagine if I said I don’t know? I do know but I am not going to tell you. There are multiple reasons ... there were periods where we couldn’t manage to get the average of points per month or per week that Pirates are supposed to get.”
In October 2022, SuperSport United coach Gavin Hunt declared Pirates were the only side capable of challenging Sundowns. Hunt’s assertion would be justified a month later when the Sea Robbers thumped Sundowns 3-0 on aggregate in the MTN8 semifinals en route to lifting the trophy. Four months later, Pirates would find themselves mathematically out of the title race, having to oust Hunt’s SuperSport from position two to qualify for the CAF Champions League and salvage their league campaign.
Bucs host Matsatsantsa at Orlando Stadium on Saturday (5.45pm).
Riveiro knows the importance of the clash against SuperSport in their bid to finish second. “We are looking forward to facing SuperSport and have a chance to reduce the gap between us and them ... it’s very important to find ourselves in a position where we’ll qualify for the Champions League,” he said.*