Bucs, Sundowns
both head north
SIX TAB SOCCER POOLS GET A R1-MILLION CASH BOOST
CASH BOOSTS FOR TAB SOCCER POOLS THIS WEEKEND
By Mark Gleeson
Cash add-ins totalling R750,000 to six TAB Soccer 10, 6 and 4 pools add lots of excitement to what should be a glorious long weekend of soccer action.
Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates were both in action in the DStv Premiership on Tuesday and now switch their focus for the next two weekends to African club competition and the quest continental glory.
Both now head north for quarter-final first-leg matches with Sundowns taking on Petro Atletico of Angola in Luanda on Saturday in the African Champions League and the Buccaneers away in Dar-es-Salaam against Tanzanian outfit Simba in the Confederation Cup on Easter Sunday.
Both games are included in R250,000-added Soccer 10 pools and both SA teams are expected to come away with a score draw or an away victory that will set them up for semi-final slots when they host the second-leg ties some seven days later.
Sundowns set a record for Champions League, first launched in 1997, by amassing 16 out of a total of 18 available points in the group phase this season, but must now overcome their penchant of flattering only to come unstuck in the knockout games.
Pirates also finished top of their group and have since been handed a favourable draw. Should they overcome Simba, Bucs will then meet either of two Libyan clubs - Al Ahli or Al Ittihad - in a semi-final they can win.
Meanwhile in South Africa on Saturday, the race for second spot in the DStv Premiership continues with two key games. Royal AM, bristling with confidence, take a 10-match unbeaten run into their away game at Cape Town City, who are also in form and hoping for a sixth successive league victory.
City have catapulted themselves from outside the first eight on the log to a position from which they might yet finish runners-up and grab a slot in next season’s African Champions League.
Kaizer Chiefs are also still in the running to finish second, but have proven remarkably inconsistent and often flatter to deceive.
Chiefs, who are in third place, have either six or eight games left to complete their league season depending on the outcome of the Covidgate case.
The Premier Soccer League has appealed the order by the South African Football Association arbitrator that two December games be replayed after Chiefs did not pitch up against Cape Town City and Lamontville Golden Arrows because of multiple COVID-19 infections in their camp.
The outcome of that appeal could take weeks and until then the battle for second place is clouded with uncertainty.