Sundowns need to strike early

Sundowns need to strike early

With PSL action back on the menu starting this Friday, TAB soccer players can look forward to increased pools and engrossing action, but it might be dangerous to bank on the Brazilians as they face a tricky task in their opening match against Sekhukhune United.

By Mark Gleeson

The Premier Soccer League is finally upon us, with Mamelodi Sundowns beginning the defence of their title in Polokwane on Friday night, playing a tricky tie away against Sekhukhune United in their first outing of the season.

They will be fresh off the plane from a successful pre-season training camp in the Netherlands where they recorded some impressive results against Dutch clubs in their preparatory matches.

Of course, Sundowns will start the season as runaway favourites, expected to make it seven league titles in a row, keeping up their dominance of the local league.

Usually, they do not look too convincing straight away but given their immense resources, it is hard to see the local footballing landscape changing much over next nine months.

Championship football in England also kicks off on Friday with Southampton, freshly down from the Premier League, away against Sheffield Wednesday, who came back from a near impossible position in the promotion playoffs to move up from League One.

The parachute payments – a share of the mega TV rights spoils – that are awarded to the three relegated clubs means Southampton start with much more money at their disposal than the rest of the Championship field and they have a distinct advantage. It has been noticeable in recent seasons how the sides who have just dropped down have been able to quickly return to the Premier League.

Southampton have turned to former Swansea City manager Russell Martin to take them back up while Leeds United and Leicester City will also have new bosses as they look to make an immediate return to the top flight.

Daniel Farke, the German coach who previously steered Norwich City to promotion, has taken over at Elland Road while Leicester have turned to Enzo Maresca, formerly Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City now branching out on his own.

He is a former Italy under-21 international and has prepped his side in the Far East for pre-season matches, which included a 0-4 loss to Liverpool at the weekend.

Other Championship contenders are likely to be Middlesbrough, who had a good run under Michael Carrick in the last campaign before losing in the playoff, and Coventry City, who narrowly missed out too.

Tonight and tomorrow sees the latest round of preliminary knockout round games in the Champions League where the likes of FC Copenhagen, Panathinaikos and Sweden’s BK Hacken are bankers in the second round, second leg encounters.