WeeklySA_AdminCAMPAIGN: Top Eight encounters to give hint of direction league will take
By Jo-Mangaliso Mdhlela
The big guns of the Premiership Soccer League (PSL) have been ship-shaping themselves to do battle for the MTN8 quarter-finals taking part next weekend.
The teams partaking in the football fest are Orlando Pirates; Polokwane City; Sekhukhune United; TS Galaxy; Stellenbosch; AmaZulu; Mamelodi Sundowns; and Richards Bay.
Pirates and Chiefs have been preparing themselves for both the MTN8 and league games overseas, with Pirates spending few weeks putting themselves in a better shape to have a better season than the previous one.
They used European pre-season tour to put them in a better shape for the 2025/26 campaign, returning to Spain to square up with overseas sides.
Two weeks ago, during their European pre-season tour, Pirates took on English League One Bolton Wanderers, with the match scheduled for Marbella, Spain.
The objective was to expose the team to tough and rigid regiment geared to building resilience, toughness of mind, body, and a commitment to cope not only with the upcoming league engagement, but to dominate it.
Against Wanderers, the Sea Robbers came a cropper, losing 2-0 to the former English Premier League side, now doing duty in lower divisions, and hoping to rejoin the elite league in the future.
Pirates, whose head coach, Jose Riveiro, left at the end of the previous season to take charge of Egypt’s Al Ahly, will be replaced by former Morocco centre-back, Abdeslam Ouaddou, as new head coach – with news that he has orchestrated eight signings to strengthen the squad.
Can Polokwane City cause an upset? Playing at home, and committed to dominating the league, and having had overseas exposure for the past few weeks?
It may be difficult to see Pirates losing against the Polokwane side, given their present form – and taking into account that they were placed second in the league which was won by Sundowns.
The match is schedule for Orlando Stadium, next Saturday, August 2.
City’s head coach Phuti Mohafe has expressed confidence that his side is ready for Pirates.
“It’s always tough to play the big three, and it’s not by mistake or by fluke that we qualified for the top eight,” Mohafe said.
This was after they had denied Kaizer Chiefs a passage to the top eight slot.
“We have progressed as a team because when you check last season, we were in position eight, so we are in position seven, we are progressing,” Mohafe added.
Sundowns take on Richards Bay. If form is anything to go by and is used to gauge which side is likely to progress to the semi-finals, my money would be on the Mamelodi side – a side that has won the league title 18 times since 1988, a stretch of 37 years, perhaps not consecutively.
The game is scheduled for Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium, Atteridgeville on Sunday, August 3.
AmaZulu travel to Stellenbosch, DHL Cape Town, on Sunday, August 3, to attempt to get a semi-final spot by beating the hosts.
Stellenbosch, third-place behind Sundowns and Pirates, are generally an organised side, and we might venture to conclude that they stand a better chance to progress to the semi-finals against the sixth-place AmaZulu.
At Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday, August 2, Sekhukhune United visit TS Galaxy at the Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane.
