Chiefs, Pirates face different prospects

THE Betway Premiership season kicks off next weekend with four fixtures spread over Saturday and Sunday.

Usually, the season starts with a full round of fixtures, but four teams are playing in CAF competitions and this curtailed the weekend action.

Everything points to Mamelodi Sundowns succeeding in their quest for an unprecedented eighth consecutive domestic title. Sundowns suffered back-to-back defeats at the end of last season, and in the current early season, they suffered successive 1-0 defeats to Stellenbosch in the MTN8 semi-finals.

This could be no more than a hiccup because the team is taking time to find its feet under new coach Manqoba Mngqithi. He’s convinced that despite the successive defeats the team is showing improvement.

In the three MTN8 matches, Sundowns dominated but failed to score. Part of the problem was that they were held out by the woodwork six times.

However, this Sundowns team has so many quality players that it will only be a matter of time before they return to winning ways. Last season, former Sundowns coach Rhulani Mokwena said he’d stated many times that the Sundowns team is so good, they don’t need a coach.

For the past two seasons, Sundowns won the Premiership by runaway margins, but that is likely to change this season because rival teams such as Orlando Pirates and Stellenbosch appear so much stronger. Despite Sundowns’ runaway margin they often won with narrow 1-0 margins, and this could be the case again this season.

The tight competition last season is reflected by the 68 goalless draws, and in the modern game, coaches start with defence when preparing teams. AmaZulu coach Pablo Franco Martín is the one coach who has worked hard on this aspect; in the past two seasons, AmaZulu have drawn 29 of 60 matches.

Brazilian Lucas Ribeiro was the top scorer for Sundowns in the league, eclipsing even Peter Shalulile, who has been prolific in the past three seasons. Sundowns have realised the need to beef up this department and brought in former Stellenbosch striker Iqraam Rayners to put smiles on the faces at Chloorkop.

Orlando Pirates are shaping up as worthy rivals for the great Sundowns team. Coach Jose Riveiro starts his third season with Pirates; not many ex-Buccaneers coaches have got this far. He has won four cups and led the side to the Champions League in both his seasons, but the ultimate prize remains the league.

This season, Pirates will likely have fewer playing commitments than Sundowns, and this may be their chance to secure their league campaign.

There is still no sign that South Africa’s most loved team Kaizer Chiefs has turned the corner. They disastrously started their pre-season with a humiliating 4-0 hiding in Bloemfontein in the inaugural Toyota Cup against Tanzanian giants Yanga SC.

As fate would have it, Chiefs will return to Bloemfontein on Saturday for their opening Premiership fixture against Marumo Gallants, who purchased the Moroka Swallows franchise.

Chiefs finished in a harrowing 10th place in the league last season after winning only nine of their 30 games. They have turned to new coach Nasreddine Nabi for a quick fix.

Stellenbosch, the enterprising Winelands side, are the Premiership dark horses. They have shown that despite losing their best players they can defeat South Africa's champion team in successive weeks,

This time there will be no mid-season break in the coming campaign. The final games of 2024 are on December 29, and the first of 2025 on January 3, a gap of only four days. Gone are the days of Christmas and New Year’s rest for players.