‘I don’t think anybody is going to catch them in the next few years’ — Hunt on Sundowns

SuperSport United coach Gavin Hunt has said that Mamelodi Sundowns have set the bar too high and they will continue to dominate the Premier Soccer League (PSL) for the coming years. 

The Brazilians won the league with seven matches to spare at the beginning of last month and the race for second spot has not yet been settled with two rounds to go. 

“They have set the bar so high, I don’t think anybody is going to catch them in the next few years and that’s for sure,” said Hunt as his team prepared to host Kaizer Chiefs at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Saturday. 

In his usual tongue-and-cheek style, Hunt also said the only way they can catch up with Sundowns is if they get their players back from the Brazilians. 

Over the past few seasons, SuperSport have lost key players like Aubrey Modiba, Grant Kekana, Ronwen Williams, Teboho Mokoena and Sipho Mbule to Sundowns. 

“Give us the five to six players from Sundowns and we will show you where we can go,” he said when asked about their ambitions for next season. 

“We will look at our team and look after what we need to do, we have a salary cap here, that is how we operate and that’s how it works here. That’s unfortunate but we will have to find new players, try to build a team that is competitive and try to close the gap.

“We need to get closer and make it more competitive and we will do it. But it is not all against them, we need to be competitive against everybody because that’s where the difference is in the league. 

“It is all very well when it’s competitive against the league champions but against the two to three bottom teams in the league we took three or four off them and that’s the problem. 

The league is competitive and I don’t think there are enough players out there, it will be an ongoing grind and we will try to get closer.” 

SuperSport host Chiefs in Rustenburg and Hunt said having to move from their base at Lucas Moripe Stadium in Atteridgeville is not ideal. 

“It is very disappointing because we have had a lot of success at Lucas Moripe Stadium and now you get kicked out of there but we got seven out of nine points at another venue (Tshwane University of Pretoria, TUT) which is fantastic. 

“But it is not the same, I don’t even have a chair to sit on in the new stadium, we need to do our best to get back to Lucas Moripe Stadium because we should be playing Chiefs at Lucas on Saturday. 

“It is destabilising, it’s okay when you are a big club like Chiefs, Pirates and Sundowns because you take people with you and where ever you go you are the home team anyway. 

“With a team like us, we need to be comfortable in our environment that suits us, we moved and now we are moving again and it is not easy.”