SAZI HADEBE | Who says the PSL is boring?

Who says the 2023-2024 DStv Premiership campaign has been boring? It has not. Well, not completely. 

Certainly champions Mamelodi Sundowns, who galloped to win the league title for the seventh successive season with six matches to spare a few weeks ago, were no match for almost all the other 15 of the clubs. Sundowns inflicted defeats at least once (in the league) on 14 clubs, barring Cape Town City, who are yet to meet the Brazilians in the second round after holding them to a goalless draw in the first. 

With three matches left against Stellenbosch FC, TS Galaxy and City, Sundowns are already brimming with hope of becoming the first South African side to complete the league season without defeat. Rulani Mokwena's side has inflicted a double of Premiership defeats against seven clubs — Sekhukhune United, Chippa United, Richards Bay FC, AmaZulu, Cape Town Spurs and Kaizer Chiefs, the Soweto giants with whom Sundowns once competed for every trophy in past PSL seasons. 

With these staggering numbers I agree it's easy to conclude that our Premiership resembles that of a farmers' league, where the outcome is easy to predict way before anyone kicks the ball in anger.

There is truth to the perception of poor standards. Some, if not half of PSL clubs, are simply incapable of competing for various reasons. Even more shocking is that even those that should — the likes of Orlando Pirates and Chiefs — have been shadows of themselves for many years now.

One just has to examine the statistics of clubs like Lamontville Golden Arrows or Polokwane City, and see what they do when they play against each other, and what they do when they're trying to avoid defeat against Sundowns. Yes, because avoiding defeat, not competing, is such clubs' priority against the Brazilians.

In engagements against each other these teams will complete less than 500 passes each the entire match, and against Sundowns it gets even worse because their ball possession percentage is atrocious as they concern themselves with avoiding a loss at all costs.

Look at how Arrows performed in their 0-0 draw at home against Sundowns last week. With Downs playing with 10 men for the entire second half, Steve Komphela's team side still finished with embarrassing stats of 20% ball possession and 170 passes completed to Sundowns' 657, with two shots on target compared with Sundowns' seven.

For the likes of Arrows and Polokwane, it’s just a matter of keeping their status in the elite league, not competing to win every match. 

But despite this gloom and doom brought by the likes of Arrows — coached by Komphela, the first to introduce negative football in his three-year (2015 to 2018) stint at Chiefs — there's green light elsewhere.

The biggest light of all has come from Stellenbosch FC, the team where not even coach Steve Barker at the start of the campaign was ready to push Pirates for second place, as they are now with two games remaining. Stellies' success is a result of their decision to compete for every match — something the likes of Komphela fears most.

If Stellenbosch win against unbeaten Sundowns at home on Saturday and away to Bay next week, they will be home and dry and clinch second spot, confirming their debut in the Caf Champions League next season. No matter what happens in their remaining two matches Stellies are guaranteed Caf football next season as they'll play in the Confederation Cup if Pirates win the two-horse race for runners-up. For that alone, this season has definitely not been boring as Stellies have brought great spark to the PSL.

Pirates coach Jose Riveiro has also done a sterling job to still be in the mix for second place in his second full season at the club. Like most PSL coaches, Riveiro is trying to find ways to catch up with Sundowns while trying to fend off the like of Stellies.

The brand of football Bucs are playing has attracted their fans to the stands in home and away matches this season as they have racked up a place in four of the last five cup finals, winning all of them. However, Riveiro knows it is winning the holy grail the club last won in 2012 — the league — that will really cement his name as one of the great coaches at the Buccaneers. 

The battle for the last spot in the Premiership's top eight is likely to go down to the wire with the likes of Chiefs, Polokwane, Chippa, Golden Arrows and AmaZulu still in with a chance.

That Chiefs are in this mix is a huge embarrassment for fans who had fancied a much-improved season but instead saw Amakhosi slide to an unprecedented nine campaigns without silverware. One would have thought the top eight would be a given for Chiefs, but by Thursday interim coach Cavin Johnson was looking depressed while still hoping Amakhosi will beat Polokwane at home on Saturday to be in a better position come next Saturday, when Chiefs will be away to relegated Spurs.

“We'll do an introspection into the season, but for now I'm worried about this Saturday. It's normal to report to the superiors what you think [should happen in the future],” Johnson said when asked how his job has been at Chiefs since taking over as an interim coach towards the end of October.

For the likes of Arrows, Polokwane, AmaZulu and Chippa, that's exactly what they start aiming for almost every season — qualifying for the top eight and preserving their status, and little more. For them this has been a passable season. But surely Chiefs can't be in that category. They need to stop depressing their hordes of supporters. 

Despite some gallant attempts to stave off relegation, former Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp now has a CV that displays that he relegated a South African club from the top division. The German tried his best, having come late in the season to save what was already a deep-sinking ship at promoted Spurs.

This has Royal AM, who have lost their last five matches, Bay and Swallows fighting to avoid the dreaded 15th spot that will see one of them clash against two Motsepe Foundation sides in the promotion-relegation playoffs. 

Credit should be given to Bay coach Vusumuzi Vilakazi for keeping the spark alive in an otherwise depressing scenario where players and clubs are fighting for their future. That Bay have won three of their last five matches, including an astonishing 1-0 victory away to Pirates on Saturday, is down to the resilience of Vilakazi, who has always believed his side can still beat the drop despite starting the season poorly under Kaitano Tembo.

Bay's prospects in their run to the finish line are not looking great as they face Cape Town City away on Saturday, then Stellies in Durban next week. But based on the sheer commitment they've shown in the last five matches, Bay may well drag their underperforming KwaZulu-Natal counterparts AM down to 15th place.

Royal coach John Maduka has to start resurrecting his team on Saturday when they host Chippa before their do-or-die final clash away to Swallows. 

With all these scenarios and permutations for 15th, surely no-one can say the 2023-24 Premiership season has been boring. For me, it's been stimulating and will continue to be right until the end.