I have to confess I was struggling to come up with a point to make in this space this week. I had absolutely nothing in my head until late on Tuesday.
Perhaps it was because I’ve been struggling to think properly since I heard the sad news of my brother-in-law’s passing from Covid-19-related complications at the weekend.
Yes, nobody is immune to this pandemic, but when it hits one of your relatives and people you know, you simply can’t help but think what could have been.
So late on Tuesday night one of my colleagues sharpened my thinking when he tweeted something that makes our professional football league unique or perplexing at times.
My colleague’s tweet reminded me of the sort of league we have.
How can you really ignore the unpredictability of our league when, just last season, Kaizer Chiefs sat on top of the log for almost the entire season, only to throw all that hard work away in the last 30 minutes of the campaign?
How on Earth can you predict that?
Some followers of our league enjoy the fact you’ll never know, nor dare gamble on what our PSL clubs will do next, but I must confess that I’m not a fan of this.
I sense a lack quality in the mental toughness or fitness of our players and their technical teams. Most PSL clubs usually crack when they’re under pressure to deliver critical results at crucial times.
And that, surely, can’t help anyone predict what’s going to happen in the next game, no matter who’s on form.
The situation is also made worse by what I wrote last week — our referees, who, with no backing from the PSL and the SA Football Association, continue to produce poor performances week in and week out.
On Tuesday, log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns earned a point they didn’t deserve in their drawn (0-0) home match against an unlucky Bloemfontein Celtic, who were denied a legitimate goal by match officials.
Now you tell me who would have predicted that. That a star-studded Sundowns would struggle and need a referee’s mishap to get away with a draw against a Celtic team battling at the wrong end of the table. No-one could have foreseen that.
Things can change quickly in this league.
Now you tell me who would have predicted that. That a star-studded Sundowns would struggle and need a referee’s mishap to get away with a draw against a Celtic team battling at the wrong end of the table. No-one could have foreseen that.
And Chiefs fans, who were wallowing in fear, anger and despair about the future of their club at the start of last week, can corroborate this.
There was even talk of Chiefs facing relegation after they suffered a 2-0 defeat against Maritzburg United on January 9 — that loss pushed Amakhosi to the unfamiliar territory of 14th spot on the 16-team log.
It’s now January 22, and Chiefs have played and won all of their last three league matches (AmaZulu 0-1, Cape Town City 1-2, TTM 3-0) after that Maritzburg loss.
When I glanced at the log yesterday, Chiefs had moved up six places and were now occupying a respectable seventh place, only 16 points behind leaders Sundowns.
As big as Chiefs are, I don’t think anyone would have predicted their resurgence in the past week.
Amakhosi’s rise will surely bring more hope to their fans, but having seen how they’ve struggled to maintain last season’s form, those same fans will do well to view their club’s current form with due caution.
But what we can’t take away from Chiefs, and big credit should go to their astute coach Gavin Hunt, is the emergence of young players.
The likes of Nkosingiphile Ngcobo (21), Happy Mashiane (23), Njabulo Blom (21), Lebohang Lesako (21) and Siyabonga Ngezana (23) have grabbed their opportunity as the club tries to rebuild without the luxury of signing new players this season.
It is the infusion of these young lads into the Chiefs line-up that makes Hunt’s team very unpredictable.
Perhaps the transfer ban on Chiefs is not as bad as it initially looked, as it now gives Hunt a chance to throw these boys into the deep end — preparing them for the coming seasons, where they’ll hopefully be supported by great new signings.
It is early days, with less than 15 league matches played, but judging by what we’ve already seen, it would be foolhardy to predict how things will shape up come May.
But isn’t the unpredictability of our league the sort of dose our lives need even more at this point in time, when everyone tries to remain sane amid the ravages of Covid-19?
I guess it is.
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