Kaizer Chiefs (1) 2
Moshoeu 45th, Mayo 46th)
Sundowns (0) 0
Kaizer Chiefs kicked off their Premier League campaign with a well-deserved victory over Sundowns at Ellis Park on Saturday.
Chiefs played like a well-oiled machine as they chalked up their first three points of the season.
The players' seeming telepathic understanding of each other made Amakhosi a marvel to watch as passes always found their men and those sent into space were latched onto by alert team-mates. Very rarely were there misunderstanding at offside traps.
Even when coach Ted Dumitru shouted instructions amid the din made by the crowd, the players seemed to know what was expected of them.
The result was a thorough beating of opponents teeming with highly-regarded internationals and a coach termed the best on the continent.
It is generally said that the first and last five minutes of the match in either half are the most dangerous.
And so it proved for Sundowns as they conceded a goal a minute before and after the break. When Shoes Moshoeu opened the scoring, the Sundowns players were already anticipating the referee to blow for halftime. Arthur Zwane crossed for Shoes Moshoeu to slam the ball past Andre Arendse.
The second goal came immediately after Sundowns had restarted for the second half. Siaka Tieme lost possession on the left wing and Sibusiso Dlamini ran all the way to the goalline and crossed for Patrick Mayo to slot home.
The Sundowns players were clearly still trying to settle in and Chiefs caught them cold.
Mistakes aside, Sundowns hardly impressed. It was easy to tell that they were a side yet to know each other. With no less than five new players at the club, the Brazilians struggled to find each other with their passes.
They played a painfully slow game that saw them continuously caught flat. The 3-5-2 pattern Luis Oscar Fullone used also proved their undoing as it forced Clement Mazibuko and Siaka to play deep in their own half as Chiefs' Zwane and Rene Richards attacked.
With these two deep in their own half, it meant Sundowns took longer to get into the opposition half and, when they did, Chiefs always had men behind the ball.
Fullone's decision to use Paulos Masehe upfront alongside Daniel Mudau instead of Sandile Ndlovu baffled.
Masehe hardly troubled the Chiefs defence and on the day even the slow Fabian McCarthy was allowed to shine.
Dynamos 0
Santos 0
Santos, one of Cape Town's three professional soccer clubs, got a useful start to the new Premier League season by picking up a valuable away point against Dynamos in Giyani in the Limpopo Province.
The venue is not an easy one at which to get points, but Santos dug down deep in spite of the fact that they were without four key players due to suspension and injury.
Santos, who won the league championship in 2001/02, were disappointed with their ninth placed finish last season. - and they are determined to do better this time.
It was a good result for Santos' Boebie Solomons, who was recently appointed as the club's head coach.
The other two Cape clubs, Hellenic and Ajax Cape Town, meet in a derby at Athlone on Wednesday evening.
- Wits University opened their Premier League campaign with a 1-0 win over Moroka Swallows at Milpark on Friday night despite finishing the game with 10 men.
Wits had midfielder Gert Schalkwyk sent off for a challenge on Swallows defender George Hummel. Sipho Mngomezulu scored the winner in the 70th minute. - Sapa