While there’s no debate that Mamelodi Sundowns will win the DStv Premiership for a record sixth time in a row this season, competition for second spot, which comes with a lucrative place in the Caf Champions League, remains wide open.
Downs’ cruise to a 22-point lead at the one-third stage of the season has created a state of unease among anyone who has SA football’s interests at heart.
Making the race for second position even more unsettling is the poor form of the four chasing teams — SuperSport United, Orlando Pirates, Richards Bay FC and Kaizer Chiefs. The inconsistency of the supposedly chasing teams says much about the level of competition in the elite league.
While Sundowns have won their last 15 league matches — including a first league double over big two rivals Chiefs and Pirates and stretching the previous PSL win record from 11 — a look at the results of the chasing teams paints a horrifying picture.
All four teams seem to be in the top five by sheer luck.
Fifth-placed Chiefs have won one, drawn one and lost three of their last five league games, including a humiliating 3-2 defeat at home to Lamontville Golden Arrows on Sunday.
Pirates, who face Chiefs in Saturday’s much-hyped Soweto derby, are in better form with the 1-0 defeat against Sundowns early this month, the only blot for the third-placed Buccaneers. They have won four of their last five league encounters. Don’t count on that form to help Pirates beat their Soweto rivals on Saturday, as previous results are usually thrown out of the window whenever the two meet.
Amakhosi go into the fixture buoyed by having won the last four league derbies, including in October last year via Yusuf Maart’s shot from inside his own half that made Pirates goalkeeper Siyabonga Mpontshane enemy No. 1 for most Bucs diehards.
Of the four teams chasing second place, Pirates have a good squad on paper, one that won’t look out of place representing SA alongside Sundowns in next year’s Champions League. Such has been Pirates’ poor form in the SA league in recent years that the last time they qualified for the Champions League was four seasons ago, when Milutin Sredojevic was still their coach. Bucs’ slump has allowed Chiefs (2020-21), AmaZulu (2021-22) and Cape Town City (2022-23) to accompany Downs in Africa’s prestigious competition in the last three editions.
While Chiefs went all the way to losing in the Champions League final to Pitso Mosimane’s Al Ahly in 2020, Usuthu and City’s lack of experience showed they could not cope with the intensity of the competition, especially closer to its business end.
It would be another setback if PSL rookies Bay were to finish second and earn the Champions League spot next season. Yet this could happen because nobody can guarantee what results Chiefs, Pirates or SuperSport will manage in the league run-in.
SuperSport will probably blame the weather for their 1-1 draw against Royal AM at the weekend. But what will coach Gavin Hunt hide behind if he were to account for only winning once in the other four of his team’s last five league outings? United have long sold their souls to neighbours Sundowns, the club they’ve been providing (at a huge price admittedly) plenty of their top players in recent years.
Bay are in fourth place. The KZN outfit have won once, lost twice and drawn twice in their last five games, hardly results that inspire confidence that they can even remain in the top eight. But they are rookies and have already achieved far more than was expected of them.
The top eight may also elude Chiefs if they don’t find form in their last 10 games. Teams such as Sekhukhune United and Cape Town City, who are just one and two points away from them respectively, may take advantage of a continued malaise.
In fact City and Sekhukhune may end up in the mix for second spot if the four teams ahead of them continue with their erratic form. But such is the inconsistency of all the PSL teams, except Sundowns, that even the four “chasers” may suddenly have a bad run and end up fighting relegation.
It’s been that sort of season, where even those fighting relegation — Marumo Gallants, Maritzburg United and Swallows FC — know there are a handful of teams above them that can be drawn into the relegation scrap.
The poor results of the four teams chasing second place gives a lot of comfort to Sundowns, who, at 55 points, know that adding just five more points as they embark on their last nine games may confirm them champions.
It’s a season that has given us a firm reminder of how the competitiveness of the PSL has been dwindling.
Such has been the inconsistency of many PSL teams this campaign that no-one will be surprised if Sekhukhune, a team promoted two seasons ago, go on to finish second and represent SA with Sundowns on the continent next season.
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