‘I like it like this,’ says Mngqithi with 2025-26 battle looking wide open after five games

Nobody could have predicted the first quarter of the Betway Premiership would go the way it has, but unlikely joint log leaders Kaizer Chiefs and Sekhukhune United, who have only given away two points out of a possible 15, cannot have any complaints.

Six clubs — Siwelele FC (four points), Richards Bay (four), Stellenbosch FC (four), Magesi FC (three), Orbit College (three) and Chippa United (one) — could not have been more pleased with the arrival of the first international break. It gives them time to reassess and improve their situation when league matches resume on September 14 with a sole fixture between champions Sundowns and Magesi.

Already there's been one coaching casualty with Chippa chair Siviwe Mpengesi having pulled the plug on Sinethemba Badela and replace him with the controversial Belgian Luc Eymael. 

But it is a fight at the top of the Premiership that has cultivated much talk with many asking themselves if this is a season a certain club will stop Sundowns from winning the title for a record ninth successive time.

Certainly, former Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi seemed to suggest exactly that after his side, Lamontville Golden Arrows, were beaten 1-0 by Chiefs at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Saturday. Mngqithi believes the 2025-26 campaign will be wide open and added it was exciting for him to see clubs like Chiefs and Sekhukhune having the start they've had. Both have 13 points, Amakhosi in second place on goal difference. 

“Personally, I'm impressed with how the league looks,” said Mngqithi, who won five league titles with Sundowns in the decade he spent at Chloorkop as part of their technical team.

“I like the competition, I like the contest and I would like to see each and every coach dig deeper to try to transform his team so we can see improvement of the players and the teams. When there's no clear front-runner it makes the contest a bit interesting. I think this one [season] can come with a lot of surprises. I like it like this.”

Amakhosi's flying form has been the talk of the early stage of 2025-26. Nasreddine Nabi perhaps saved his job by the skin of his teeth, ending a 10-year trophy drought with last season's Nedbank Cup, but could find no consistency in the league, as Amakhosi ended ninth, just one better than the previous campaign's worst-ever 10th. Their signings seem to have brought a lot to Naturena. Doubters, and there will be many, and their arguments quite justified, will point out Nabi's first five games last campaign also showed promise, before the wheels came off. One of the questions of the first half of this season's league campaign, then beyond that, will be whether this is genuinely the beginning of some sort of revival at the long-ailing Soweto giants.

It goes without saying it is far too early to write off Sundowns at such an embryonic stage. They are only two points behind Chiefs and Sekhukhune after drawing their opening match 1-1 away to Chippa and also away to Amakhosi (0-0) last Wednesday.

The only complaint Mngqithi had is the absence of a video assistant referee (VAR), with some of the decisions going against his side in Saturday's match.

“I wouldn't want to use the decision on the penalty [which Arrows were denied this weekend] as a deciding factor because we also should have scored in other situations. Sometimes when you look at these decisions of penalties, free kicks and fouls in the PSL, I don't think we're winning much without VAR. You can say whatever you want but without VAR we're exposed because [wrong] decisions are taken and we move on.

“Nobody talks — it's Golden Arrows by the way, so nobody talks. But if it's somebody else, maybe something arises. But the honest truth is referees have been given this carte blanche way of doing what they want.

“Even if it is atrocious, it's OK. It's just depending on who was beaten on the day. If it's somebody who is bigger than the other in the animal farm, it will be an issue. If it happens against a team that maybe is less fancied, it's OK.”

”

That incident was not the only one Mngqithi questioned in matches played over the weekend. He felt Sundowns' spot-kick in their 1-0 win away to Stellenbosch FC in Cape Town on Saturday, from which Peter Shalulile became the Premiership's record scorer on 130 goals, was awarded way too softly.

“I was so happy for him [Shalulile]; I saw what happened. But that was a dubious penalty to be honest, let's not lie. I don't think that foul was inside the box.”

I was so happy for him [Shalulile]; I saw what happened. But that was a dubious penalty to be honest, let's not lie. I don't think that foul was inside the box

—  Former Sundowns coach Manqoba Mngqithi

Orlando Pirates' new coach Abdeslam Ouaddou will be among the happy Premiership coaches, surely pleased at how his side recovered after starting the season with losses against Sekhukhune and Marumo Gallants.

That Pirates went on to win their last three league matches without conceding a goal bodes well for Ouaddou, whose stay at Pirates could have been shortened had things not improved after those early defeats. 

Ouaddou's major focus before he turns his attention back to the league again will be on the MTN8 final against Stellies at Mbombela Stadium on September 13. A win in that final will cement Ouaddou's place at Pirates as he would have helped them win that trophy for the fourth successive time, beating the team Bucs won against in the final last season.