WeeklySA_AdminREVENGE: Amakhosi will want to inflict pain on their perennial nemesis as the DStv Premiership resumes in earnest
By Ali Mphaki
The weatherman predicts azure, sun-kissed skies with temperatures expected to hit the 24th degree mark for the capital city Sunday. But it will be more than an inferno in the field of play when title holders Mamelodi Sundowns host a bullish and belligerent Kaizer Chiefs in a DStv Premiership match scheduled for the Loftus Versfeld stadium, kickoff 17hrs.
The match is the final act to a weekend reminiscent of the recent MTN8 quarter finals, with the curtain raiser the oldest rivalry in SA football – the Soweto derby – featuring Swallows FC and Orlando Pirates at the Orlando Stadium Saturday.
Fans will agree that the seismic changes in our local football especially in recent times has seen the Swallows/Pirates fixture lose its charm, hence the Chiefs/Sundowns takes precedence and undoubtedly a must watch game in a weekend featuring no less than six other DStv Premiership games. Both Chiefs and Sundowns are going nearly equal strong into this match. Their last game, the MTN8 quarter final in August ended in a 2-all draw only for Sundowns’ to win on penalties much to the anguish of the long suffering Amakhosi faithful. What was evident in that game is that a team haunted by its past glories seemed energized those blue away shirts threading lightly.
Having been outplayed in the early stages and going down 2-0, Amakhosi showed great courage and determination to claw the game back to 2-2 and after a strong second half, came very close to snatching a late 90th minute winner through Phathutshedzo Nange. The most memorable event of the game for the Chiefs legion of fans was when Keagan Dolly replaced Kgaogelo Sekgotho in the 59th minute to make his Chiefs debut after his signing following his spell at French Ligue 1 side Montpellier.
The playmaker had barely taken his place on the pitch when the ball fell to him and with his first touch Dolly unleashed a peach of a defence-splitting pass into the path of Billiat, who hit a delicious first time shot which fizzed high and handsome into the Sundowns net inside the far post, past a hapless Mweene for a sensational Chiefs equalizer.
Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter’s post match comments about his charges were revealing: “If the players can give me 20% more than that, we will be a team to be reckoned with,” Baxter said after the game. But blessed with a panoply of brilliance in their squad, Sundowns as title holders won’t have their guards down and would once more want to prove who is the boss in the PSL.
Adding intrigue to the game is that there is a reported “mutiny” in the Sundowns camp, with the three coaches Manqoba Mnqithi, Steve Komphela, and Rulani Mokoena apparently not singing in the same sheet about tactics.
But whether there is substance in these sayings, only time will tell. Starting from 2009 Chiefs and Sundowns played 20 games among which there were 13 winning matches for Downs, 7 draws and with Chiefs winning 11. There’s been no red cards in all their matches, but Chiefs have amassed most yellow cards at 15 and ‘Downs with a mere eight. A draw seems a safer prediction for this game, but a win for Chiefs would still be priceless, just like they did last season being the only team to beat Sundowns in the Premeirship.
