Pirates carry South Africa’s hopes
Despite the Premier Soccer League (PSL) being a bungling organisation notorious for being incompetent, quietly ineffective and messing up fairly basic decisions, local football has not lost its appeal, judging by the excellent spectator turnout at the weekend.
PSL teams suffered high and lows, starting with Mamelodi Sundowns, who saw their CAF Champions League hopes evaporate into the night air at FNB Stadium on Saturday. They were dumped out of the continental showpiece by Angola’s Petro de Luanda, who secured a 3-2 aggregate win to advance to the semi-finals.
Sundowns tasted defeat for the first time in this season's Champions League last week when they lost 2-1 to Petro. On Saturday, their second leg clash ended in a 1-1 stalemate, which gave Petro the green light into the semi-final round.
The outcome was painful for Sundowns, judging by coach Manqoba Mngqithi’s words: "It hurts too much. I don’t want to lie."
Earlier on Saturday, in the Winelands, there was no consolation for Kaizer Chiefs fans, who were granted their wish to sack coach
Stuart Baxter. The second post-Baxterera started with a defeat against Stellenbosch FC, but it seemed the Chiefs fans at the Winelands venue were in high spirits right until the final whistle.
Their demeanour suggested that they were happy with the performance, even though it ended in defeat. It was heartening to see some fresh faces in the line-up, especially those who have been ignored by Baxter. There were encouraging signs from untried combinations, and Chiefs will do well to build on this in their next outing.
Kgoloko Thobejane's Baroka have almost certainly been consigned to automatic relegation after they suffered defeat at the hands of Swallows on Sunday. The outcome leaves Baroka (on 18 points) rockbottom in 16th place and five points adrift of the 15th placed team TS
Galaxy on 23 points.
In 14th place is Swallows, also on 23 points but with a better goal difference. The 13th-placed team is Maritzburg United on 24 points. All four teams have four matches remaining this season. Of the four teams, Swallows have fared best with four points in the last five games.
Who will finish in 15th place when the season ends, remains a lottery ...
The KZN derby between AmaZulu and Royal AM was a rousing affair, and the excellent spectator turn-out made for a festival atmosphere.
However, the eventual goalless stalemate was hard on Royal AM. They could have clinched a win had referee Tshidiso Maruphing ruled in their favour for at least one of two genuine penalty appeals. AmaZulu bravely soldiered on with desperate defence to ride their luck.
With Royal AM restricted to a draw, Sundowns will only need a draw in their next game to secure the Premiership title. There are signs that the 'beautiful game' is alive and kicking in KZN.
Royal AM and AmaZulu are wellplaced to secure Top 8 berths.
After Sundowns' Champions League demise, Orlando Pirates will fly the flag for Mzansi in Africa. Pirates sensationally emerged victorious on penalties after Sunday's CAF Confederation Cup quarter-final second leg clash in Soweto.
Pirates’ triumph also marked a victory for fair play after the rank bad gamesmanship by Tanzanian cub Simba FC. Pirates co-coach Mandla Ncikazi was so incensed with the treatment in Tanzania, that he was moved to say "Pirates were treated like animals" on the away leg.
It was a shocking situation that the VAR was not fully operational at times in either leg.
CAF must also look into the poor handling of the game by the match officials in the second leg.