Dog-eat-dog in the dreaded play-offs
With the league title already decided, it was all about formalities at the Petrus Molemela Stadium on Saturday, as Mamelodi Sundowns hoisted the Absa Premiership trophy aloft following a goalless draw with Bloemfontein Celtic that will, by all accounts, not live long in the memory.
Sundowns’ players, indeed, could be forgiven for having their minds on exactly how they were going to get to Lionel Messi first tomorrow at FNB Stadium, in order to do surely the most desirable shirt-swap of all shirt-swaps.
There was still plenty of excitement on the field elsewhere, though it was the wrong kind of excitement for Ajax Cape Town, as they find themselves with a season extended by the promotion/relegation play-offs. The Urban Warriors, following their 2-1 loss at home to Kaizer Chiefs, will have to pick themselves up post-haste, in time for tomorrow, in fact, when they have to take on Black Leopards in the heat of Thohoyandou.
Ajax have the quality to stay in the Premiership, and a tactically astute coach in Muhsin Ertugral, but it will not be easy against Leopards and the yo-yo specialists Jomo Cosmos. Still, this had to happen to someone, with Baroka owing the greatest debt of gratitude to Kaizer Chiefs, with Ajax’s failure to win stopping Bakgaga from dropping into the play-offs for a second season running.
They were helped by the fact, no doubt, that Amakhosi had a target of their own on the final day of the season, and achieved it by finishing third and making it into the Caf Confederation Cup. It will be fascinating to see, however, what team Chiefs put out in that competition.
The last time Amakhosi played in that competition, they came under fire in 2014 for fielding a weakened team against ASEC Mimosas. Will they follow Sundowns and Orlando Pirates’ lead and take Caf competition more seriously this time around?
They might be helped by the decision to move the competition, which will now start in December of this year, and end the following May, as Caf line up their calendar with an August to May campaign.
Finally, the sides to compete in next year’s MTN8 were also finalised on Saturday, as AmaZulu sneaked into eighth place with a 1-0 win at home to Cape Town City. Just a week earlier, AmaZulu had only just been confirmed as avoiding relegation, despite losing 3-2 to Bidvest Wits.
At the end of the season, only nine points separated Ajax, in the relegation playoffs, from Cape Town City, in 5th position on the Premiership table. While this could be seen as an indication of rip-roaring excitement in a closely contested league, it indicates more to me a general mediocrity in the standard of play in this country.
The standard certainly improved in the second part of the season, but the Premiership is still not good enough to match the hype that too often goes with it. Another indication of this is in the top goalscorer category, which has been won by Percy Tau and Rodney Ramagalela, with a grand total of 11 strikes apiece.
This is not a one-off either, as the top scorer in South Africa so often records a frankly pathetic tally. One does not need to go far from home, indeed, to see why the national team has such a problem in the goalscoring ranks.