PITSO LOVES THE CHASE
THE “YES” from George Maluleka was emphatic. He said it twice, as if he was also trying to convince himself and not just the media delegation that descended upon Kaizer Chiefs’ Village in Naturena yesterday to witness Maluleka being handed the Absa Premiership Goal of the Month award for December.
He received the award for his strike against Supersport United in coach Ernst Middendorp’s first match in charge. The German mentor has brought more structure to Amakhosi but they’re still off the pace in the league race in seventh place, nine points behind leaders Bidvest Wits with 10 matches remaining.
Maluleka (pictured) was quick in his response to whether he believes that Chiefs can realistically challenge for the championship.
“Yes! Yes! I still think that we can do it,” he said. “It’s going to go down to the last day, I think, once again. We believe that we’re still there. The whole team believes that. (If we don’t believe that we can challenge for the league), then why are we playing? We believe that we can (win the league). Anything is possible.
“Everyone else is dropping points with draws. So we need to keep our eyes open as well, hopefully it will swing by our way.”
Chiefs’ last 10 matches consists mainly of encounters against teams in the bottom half of the log. Polokwane City, who they visit on Saturday, and Matsatsantsa a Pitori are the only teams in the top eight that Amakhosi will face in the final stretch. This means their matches will be even harder, playing against teams who are fighting for their lives – like Maritzburg United and Free State Stars.
Maluleka has been reborn under Middendorp. “I wouldn’t say that there’s a different George,” Maluleka said. “I am still doing the same things. I have been working hard. I would say that maybe there’s more focus, especially now that we’re at this stage of the season.
“We know what is possible to get and what is out there. As a team we realise that it’s still possible. There are two trophies up for grabs. We’re going for that, until the last day we’re going to push on.”
The other trophy up for grabs is the Nedbank Cup. Tonight Chiefs will find out who they will face in the quarter-finals.
Only Chiefs and Wits among the remaining eight teams have lifted the Nedbank Cup.
“I would rather we meet any team now to see where we stand, to see if we really have a good chance of winning this,” Maluleka said. “I am not going to say any teams. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a PSL team or an NFD team, but if we want to win this in any case we have to be at our best.
“Just bring anyone, put them in front of us and we’ll make sure that we put them aside to make sure that we go all the way.” MAMELODI Sundowns will go to where they fetched the Absa Premiership with conservative ambitions in a match that might not decide where the league will go, but can tilt the scale in favour of the winner.
The Brazilians visit Bidvest Wits at Bidvest Stadium in a top-of-the-table clash between the last two champions of South Africa.
Sundowns missed out on an opportunity to overtake the Clever Boys at the summit when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Polokwane City at Loftus Versfeld on Tuesday. This was the second time that Sundowns let slip an opportunity to occupy first place – a position that Wits have called home for the better part of this campaign.
But Sundowns’ coach Pitso Mosimane doesn’t mind doing the chasing instead of leading the pack.
The Tshwane giants are in the driver’s seat, two points behind the Clever Boys with two games in hand.
“We’re sitting in the right position,” Mosimane said.
“We’re sitting nice there. It’s a nice position to sit on. I can’t pretend that we wouldn’t have liked to win against Polokwane. Of course we wanted to win. But it’s OK. It’s a good position. Pressure is on everybody who plays … There’s no obvious (when it comes to getting results). You fight for your points.”
The Brazilians are currently in a battle to keep the point they collected from Wits in October last year. Sundowns fielded an ineligible player in that match and they could not only lose that point but could also see Wits being given maximum points from that outing which would increase the gap that the Clever Boys lead the pack by.
This case and the history between these two teams will be making this a tense and emotional contest.
“Does it determine the championship? It’s a long way to go,” Mosimane said.
“Let’s see what happens there. We hope to win, but if we don’t win it’s still OK. As long as we don’t lose. So we keep going. You’ve got to be playing proper chess, don’t be emotional.”
Sundowns could have closed the gap between them and Wits had Denis Onyango not scored an own goal. The Sundowns’
No 1 cut a dejected figure after his howler. He cried as he walked off the pitch at halftime.
“I told him that he must remember all the games he has saved us and that he must be a big man. He is bigger than that. I’ve seen mistakes. You see them every week,” Mosimane said.
While the Brazilians know how to grind results towards the end of the season, they have been uncharacteristically inconsistent in this campaign.
Mosimane has put that down to them being a team under construction. But with the league race intensifying, and Orlando Pirates and Cape Town City wanting to join in the party, any major slip-up in this period will be suicidal.
“It’s not a crisis,” Mosimane said. “We’re just losing the edge a little bit. It’s not a crisis. There are so many games left. You know what’s going to happen at the end.
“I don’t think that we’ll win all the games left. No doubt about it. I don’t think anyone is going to win all the games left. Do you know what I am trying to say?
“Football is the way it is.”