DOWNS DON’T NEED FAVOURS
THE ODDS are staked heavily against Mamelodi Sundowns both retaining the Absa Premiership title and winning the CAF Champions League due to their busy schedule.
While the Brazilians were focused on continental dominance, Orlando Pirates leapfrogged them at the summit of the league standings to sit six points clear of the Brazilians albeit having played three games more.
Sundowns’ catch-up programme resumes tonight with a clash against Supersport United in the Tshwane derby at Loftus Versfeld. They will follow that with a trip to Polokwane to take on Baroka FC on Saturday at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium.
The Brazilians’ coach, Pitso Mosimane, is likely to shuffle his team a little, resting some of the players who returned from Egypt yesterday after knocking out Alahly in the quarter-final of the Champions League.
What should take Sundowns over the finish line in both competitions is the talent of the players who were left behind for the trip in Egypt or watched from the stands and the bench at Borg El Arab Stadium as Sundowns protected their 5-0 lead from the first leg to win 5-1 on aggregate.
One of those players is Jeremy Brockie who poked fun at his situation with a witty post on Twitter.
The “Sniper” arrived at Sundowns with a lot of fanfare, but his misfiring ways and the struggle to adapt to the Brazilians’ style of play saw him transform from a bazooka to a water gun.
On Monday Brockie posted a picture of his pregnant wife with the caption: “What happens when you keep a striker in the stands for too long? He starts scoring more at home.”
It was a subtle dig at his situation where he has struggled for game time with Lebohang Maboe leading the Brazilians’ attack and Emiliano Tade preferred as the supporting forward.
The fresh legs of players like Brockie, Aubrey Ngoma and the return of Sibusiso Vilakazi should give Sundowns enough push in the fight for the league title. The three games in hand means that they don’t have to rely on any favours to win title No 9 – they just have to get the job done themselves.
Some players could be fighting for their contracts in the remaining matches in the domestic league which should spur them on to claim a record ninth league title. The core of the players who will be fighting in the Champions League don’t have much pressure to win the tournament even though Mosimane said he has always believed that his team can be African champions again.
The mandate of this team at the start of the Champions League was for them to hold their own while the team prepares for a proper assault next year. They certainly did that when they embarrassed Al-ahly.
Coach Mosimane knows that his team is still a work in progress after losing Khama Billiat and Percy Tau – the heartbeat of their eighth league title assault in the last campaign.
Gaston Sirino, Tade and Maboe quickly adjusted to Sundowns to give Mosimane a somewhat smooth transition to life without Billiat and Tau.
The fact that Sundowns are challenging for domestic and continental honours while they are yet to hit their high notes speaks volumes of the quality at their disposal.
How they navigate their remaining fixtures, including Wydad Casablanca over two legs in the semifinal of the Champions League, will not only determine where Sundowns will finish this season – but also in the next upcoming seasons as this could be the foundation of another dynasty, like the building blocks that were laid for the class of 2016 who won the league with a record number of points (71) in the 16-team Psl-era.