Johannesburg — Mamelodi Sundowns might be cruising in the inside lane in the title race, but that does not mean they are willing to take the foot off the gas.
That’s what they will be willing to do when they take on Baroka FC at the Old Peter Mokaba on Monday night.
After a long break due to the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), the second half of the DStv Premiership campaign will be in full swing this week. But Sundowns will be playing in their second league game of the year after hosting Chippa United.
However, that was astonishingly one of the Brazilians’ three games in a space of a week after beating Richards Bay and Al Hilal in the Nedbank Cup last 32 and the Champions League away in KwaMashu and at home in Rustenburg respectively.
But despite the heavy schedule do not expect the Brazilians to suffer from fatigue. After all, they bolstered their squad with the trio Bradley Ralani, Teboho Mokoena and Erwin Saveedra to ensure they compete on all fronts this term.
“I wouldn’t really anticipate fatigue at this stage from our group,” Mngqithi said. “But we are going in for a very big fight. They’ve got nothing to lose. They are pushing to get out of the relegation zone. And naturally they’ll be willing to give anything.”
There's quite a number of teams who probably envy Sundowns' top spot and 17-point lead in the top -flight. And one of those being rivals Kaizer Chiefs who've endured a rollercoaster season under coach Stuart Baxter in the last few months.
Following the outbreak of Covid-19 at the Village, which resulted in them forfeiting two matches in December, Chiefs endured another turbulent start in the year as they were bundled out of the Nedbank Cup by hoodoo side TS Galaxy.
That defeat all but confirmed the extension of their barren run to seven seasons, given the fact that they trail Sundowns by 19 points in the league, albeit having a pending arbitration case pertaining the matches they forfeited last year.
But as if things couldn’t get difficult for them. Amakhosi will visit a wounded Cape Town City side that was knocked out of the Nedbank Cup by Royal AM away on Saturday. And that’s why the two teams are both in need of the full points.
With both Chiefs and City seemingly suffering from the long-break cobwebs, there are teams that appear to be eager to hit the ground running in the restart. And one of those is Royal AM who came-from-behind to beat City at home.
But Thwihli Thwahla also appear to have ensured that the new trio of Thabo Matlaba, Shaun Magaila and Mxolisi Macuphu made a quick adaptation. And that's why they’ll be confident that they can beat Sekhukhune United tomorrow night.
The second half of the term is usually tricky as every team is for themselves. And this often results in wheels coming off or teams gaining results. Teams such as Stellenbosch and Swallows have had different starts to the year, on the other hand.
Stellies lost to Baroka in the Ke Yona Cup, while Swallows progressed to the last 16. But the two teams will meet at the Danie Craven on Wednesday night sitting at different ends on the standings. Stellies are third while Swallows are 14th.
Meanwhile, since the start of the restart of the term, there’s no team that has been surrounded by controversy like Orlando Pirates, thanks to the comments of co-coach Mandla Ncikazi. He insisted that he was not in charge of Pirates’ signing policy.
Ncikazi also questioned whether the PSL top-flight could be bigger than Afcon given that Gabadinho Mhango can’t break into the match-day squad at Pirates whereas he had an outstanding tournament in Cameroon with his native Malawi.
But after those remarks, Ncikazi and his peer Fadlu Davids will have to deliver going forward. That won’t be easy, though, as they’ll host Ncikazi’s former side Golden Arrows on Wednesday. Arrows are wounded after the Nedbank Cup exit.
IOL Sport