Wait-and-see game as Bucs seem best placed to stop Downs

Focus already on next season as Brazilians run riot

Mamelodi Sundowns are on the verge of shattering the egos of Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates diehard supporters even further. The Brazilians are on the threshold of breaking yet another huge milestone in the history of South African football. The Dstv Premiership champion-elect have not lost a single match in 2023/24, and they are left with five matches to go before they can be bestowed as “The Invincibles”.

Arsenal, the Gunners of London, are one of the few teams in the world to have achieved such a magnificent feat in the 2003 season. At the rate things are going, it could be just a matter of time before Sundowns demolish another record by becoming the first club in Mzansi, since the inception of the PSL in 1996, to romp home with the honours of finishing a league title without losing a single match.

Sundowns extended their unbeaten run in the Dstv Premiership to 49 matches in a row after their midweek draw against Golden Arrows. Yesterday, they had a chance to make it a whopping 50 games unbeaten when they faced “Mamkhize’s” side, Royal AM, at the Lucas Moripe

Stadium in Atteridgeville.

Pirates seem to be the closest to challenge Sundowns and maybe curtail the Brazilians’ dominance. The Buccaneers have been quietly building a formidable and entertaining team that is now looking menacing.

The likes of dribbling wizard Patrick “Tito” Maswanganyi, poster boy and teenage sensation Relebohile Mofokeng, Kabelo Dlamini, Makhehleni Makhaula and Tshegofatso Mabaso have been dishing out performances that have sparked a debate that they can match Sundowns pound for pound.

They have been giving wow performances and scoring at a rate even higher than Skomota at a Limpopo gig, and since their 3-2 win over rivals Chiefs in the Soweto derby in early March, the swashbuckling Buccaneers have scored a total of 33 goals in 12 matches in all competitions. Golden Arrows were some of their biggest victims, with a 7-1 pummelling that resulted in coach Steve Komphela running out of English data bundles after the match.

Royal AM and neighbouring Amazulu are some of the fellow PSL clubs that were conferred with a quartet of goals from the Sea Robbers. Minnows Hungry Lions and Crystal Lake got four and half-a-dozen respectively.

The Pirates entered the new season with their tales up after winning the Nedbank Cup at the conclusion of last season. They were tipped as the side to take Sundowns toe to toe, but Bucs’ confidence ebbed when, in the early days of the campaign, they were embarrassed by Botswana side Jwaneng Galaxy, who knocked them out of the Caf Champions League.

With the experienced Sundowns and a rather impressive Pirates, South Africans had braced themselves for a Champions League onslaught that was going to be launched on two fronts, but it all ended like a quickie sans a climax for the sheepish Buccaneers.

But, in all fairness, they seem to have bounced back in style, and Sundowns must be worried about the threat the Buccaneers pose, starting with the Nedbank Cup final in Mbombela in a couple of weeks.

Pirates are finishing the season stronger, but the question is: will they be able to continue with the momentum next season and rescue the PSL from the Farmers League that it has become in the last couple of years?