Champs chase top 8 double
A succession of TAB customers have landed big wins in recent days and there’s mega cash to be won this weekend, when TAB will add R850,000 to selected Soccer 4, 6 and 10 pools that contain a mixture of cracker matches from top leagues and competitions
By Mark Gleeson
Mamelodi Sundowns swept the board in South African football last season, kicking off their dominant campaign by capturing the MTN8, and many fancy them to take the trophy again this time round.
The eight-team competition starts this weekend and last season’s top four all have home advantage in these one-off quarter-final ties. This does tip the balance firmly in their favour as they look to win a place in the semi-finals, which are played over two legs.
Cape Town City get matters underway tomorrow afternoon against AmaZulu at Athlone Stadium and looked to have put their poor start to the season behind them on Tuesday evening, when they were far superior in beating Kaizer Chiefs. Their two-goal winning margin could have been substantially larger had they buried all their chances.
AmaZulu will start underdogs after losing their midweek derby game against Lamontville Golden Arrows, which ended their unbeaten start to the season.
Orlando Pirates’ only trophy success since 2014 was an MTN8 triumph two years ago and they are in desperate need of more silverware after a difficult last campaign. But they face a tricky away clash at Royal AM, although they will take confidence from beating them 1-0 in the league this month.
Pirates have a strange record in the MTN8. They have reached the final four times since 2013, but have been knocked out in the first round in the other five years they have competed.
The other two first-round games are on Sunday, when Chiefs are at Stellenbosch who beat them 1-0 in both league clashes last season and are capable of winning again.
They again lost some top talent at the end of the last season, but they are accustomed to that and coach Steve Barker believes now’s the time for the side to make a statement of their ambition to be a leading side in the country - and the only way to do that is to win a trophy.
PSL champions Sundowns were pretty hopeless in the MTN8 before lifting the trophy last year, when they needed five saves from heroic goalkeeper Denis Onyango in the penalty shootout in the final against Cape Town City to end up victorious.
Sundowns, for all their other successes, went 14 years without winning what is widely regarded as the easiest domestic trophy to win.
SuperSport reached three finals in a row from 2017 to 2019, winning the trophy twice, but those heady days are long gone and they are now relying on youth which counts against their chances in this competition.