Title race hotting up fast
Relegation battle also set to dish out drama
THIS COULD well be it! The Absa Premiership title race that was deemed done and dusted could be turned on its head this week.
With 10 matches left to go in the season, Mamelodi Sundowns are in a position to pull the rug from underneath Kaizer Chiefs’ feet in a similarly spectacular way as they did last season.
Should results go their way, Pitso Mosimane’s Brazilians can whittle Amakhosi’s lead down to a mere four points by the weekend while still having a game in hand.
The title-holders have two relatively easy matches this week against Bidvest Wits and Free State Stars while the runaway leaders will be engaged in tough encounters at home to both Ajax Cape Town and an Orlando Pirates outfit that suddenly believes the title is no longer out of reach.
It makes for a fascinating week of football that will be made all the more exciting by AmaZulu’s shock 5-2 win at SuperSport United that has got the relegation battle also heated up with Platinum Stars, Moroka Swallows and even Free State Stars looking over their shoulders.
Following their maiden defeat of the season away to SuperSport, Stuart Baxter spoke of the potential of Chiefs losing their next two matches to “bring the entire country back into the race”. How Sundowns must wish those words are to prove prophetic!
The pressure is no doubt on Chiefs and Baxter will be hardpressed to get his team in the right frame of mind for the visits of both Ajax and Pirates to the FNB Stadium tomorrow and on Saturday respectively.
The former Bafana Bafana coach will need to muster all the psychology he has garnered in his long coaching history to ensure that his team do not start thinking about what happened last season when Sundowns came from 11 points behind to overtake them.
Mosimane, on the other hand, will be harping on last season, telling his team that all they need to do is a repeat of the previous campaign. Ajax come to the Reef on a high having ended their seven- match winless streak with a consummately easy 2-0 victory over Chippa United while Pirates are beginning to believe the championship is attainable having won four successive matches.
It can easily be five by the time of the Soweto derby on Saturday, the Buccaneers going down to Phuthaditjaba for a clash with a Free State Stars team they should get the better of.
If things are heating up at the top, the same can be said for the bottom where AmaZulu gave themselves hope by winning only their second match of the season in spectacular fashion at the weekend.
Usuthu’s 5-2 drubbing of SuperSport in Atteridgeville coupled with Platinum Stars’ 2-0 defeat at Bloemfontein Celtic has narrowed the gap between the two sides to just six points although Stars have a game in hand.
AmaZulu have a winnable clash away to Black Aces while Stars take on a Moroka Swallows side also in the throes of relegation for a six-pointer clash.
To think that a month ago just about everyone was speaking of the title race and the relegation battle as being long decided – with Chiefs installed champions and AmaZulu doomed for the drop?