Sundowns are about to clinch title again
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Mamelodi Sundowns will be crowned PSL champions without kicking a ball tomorrow if second-placed SuperSport United fail to beat Chippa United in Gqeberha, taking the title with seven games to spare as they continue to rewrite the record books in South African football.
Sundowns have an imposing 20-point lead over SuperSport, the only club who can mathematically overhaul the dominant Brazilians. The rest of the chasing pack, including Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, are out of contention.
Sundowns are on 59 points and if SuperSport win all their remaining games they will finish with a maximum of 60. But if Gavin Hunt’s team fail to beat Chippa at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, the most they can get is 58.
Astonishingly, the last five clashes between SuperSport and Chippa have all ended in draws - three in Pretoria and two in the Eastern Cape.
Sundown are competing in the African Champions League tomorrow night, when they finish their group campaign with a home match against Cameroon’s Coton Sport, who have failed to score a point so far. Sundowns will go all out to keep it that way in order to ensure they top the group and secure an advantageous quarter-final draw.
They will know the outcome of SuperSport’s match, which starts at 17:30, when they kick off at Loftus Versfeld a few hours later and it could be that Sundowns take to the field against Coton Sport as South African champions again - or they may be required to complete the job when they return to league action on Tuesday at home to Cape Town City.
Orlando Pirates put themselves in the frame for second place in the league last time out with a 1-0 win over SuperSport and they will hope they have not lost any of that momentum through the international break.
Tomorrow they are away to free-falling Richards Bay, who have lost their last six games in a row including a 4-0 hammering at goal-shy TS Galaxy a fortnight ago. They have since demoted Pitso Dladla to assistant coach and left Vasili Manousakis in sole charge, but their issues seem deeper rooted than that.
Pirates have not been so flash on the road, losing three of their last five away, but that said Richards Bay have managed only 13 from a possible 33 points at home this season. Only three clubs have a worse record.