African cup campaign no passport to success

It is a situation in which clubs are faced with the dual task of balancing campaigns in both domestic and continental competitions to achieve the best outcome in both.

The challenge has taken on a new and intriguing twist with Champions League participants Mamelodi Sundowns and Confederation Cup qualifiers Cape Town City vying for the current season’s Premiership title, but defending champions and Caf Champions League qualifiers Bidvest Wits University and Confederation Cup qualifiers SuperSport United are faced with avoiding relegation as well.

Sundowns have done well enough in holding on to dominance while pursuing wider glory in the Champions League as well.

But in other cases the extra load of fixtures has proved difficult to surmount and a case in point is the alarming decline of SuperSport United in the Premier League after coming a whisker away from annexing last year’s Caf Confederation Cup before going down to TP Mazembe in a closely-contested final.

SuperSport, after a dismal recent run of 12 games, now occupy 14th position in the Premier League as matters have gone from bad to worse.

And, with the downward slide not showing signs of coming to a halt, today’s Premiership game against an awkward Bloemfontein Celtic has assumed critical proportions for SuperSport.