Never give Sundowns a sniff
It was Baroka FC’s former coach Kgoloko Thobejane who famously said “football can kill you a real death.” And it was that very same Baroka on Saturday who exterminated Amakhosi’s Absa Premiership chances, in the most heart-breaking of circumstances.
In Bidvest Stadium, home of a Wits team that next season will no longer exist, Chiefs’ chances of a first title in five years also went up in the smoke of a tepid 1-1 draw with Bakgaga, though it was Mamelodi Sundowns who finished the job in Dobsonville.
Pitso Mosimane’s Mamelodi Sundowns trophy machine, so often a killer of other side’s dreams, beat Black Leopards 3-0 to go top of the table for the first time this season.
They say a title race is a marathon, not a sprint. And in this case Chiefs flew out of the blocks, and just about lasted the distance, only for Sundowns to catch them in the finishing strait, and duck first over the tape.
And so the post-mortem must begin for Amakhosi, who picked up 34 points from their first 13 games of the 2019/20 league season, but then only managed 23 from their next 17 games in a slow capitulation that allowed Masandawana to smell blood.
And you really don’t want Sundowns smelling blood, even though Mosimane’s side made their own mess of the early stages of the bio-bubble. Chiefs were not able to grab that lifeline, winning just two games once the season resumed in August, while Sundowns found their feet, taking 12 points out of a possible 15 to celebrate a third league title on the trot and a fifth in seven seasons under Mosimane.
With a new long-term contract in place, there is no doubt who will be at the helm at Sundowns next season. There is, however, a serious question mark about whether Ernst Middendorp will be at Chiefs next season, and there was already a doubt when it seemed as though Chiefs were going to win the league.
Fans have failed to fall in love with the Amakhosi head coach, even though he has done far better in one season than Steve Komphela managed in three campaigns at the helm of Chiefs.
Middendorp’s side was relentlessly effective in the first part of the season, with Samir Nurkovic an inspired new signing, Lebo Manyama like a new signing and George Maluleka and Willard Katsande giving Amakhosi stability in midfield, while Daniel Akpeyi was excellent in goal behind a solid back four.
Chiefs, however, started to slip before the Covid-19-enforced break, a 1-0 loss to bottom side AmaZulu a warning of what was to come.
Chiefs then lost Maluleka, who went to Sundowns when his contract was up on 1 July, and were simply poor after the lockdown. Even their victories, a 3-2 win over Polokwane City, after being 2-0 down, and a 1-0 win over a nine-man Chippa United, were not convincing.
Chiefs’ desperate attempts to score at the end of the Baroka game were a microcosm of why Middendorp’s style of play is not so loved, lobbing balls into the penalty area in hope rather than expectation, with little indication that they were going to find a way past Elvis Chipezeze.
It is hard to get a league title off Mamelodi Sundowns, who have won five in the last seven seasons. And after this miss, it is hard to see Chiefs doing so any time soon, whoever coaches them next season, especially if Chiefs’ transfer ban is upheld this week, with Sundowns set for another busy transfer window.