PSL action once against took centre stage on the football scene this weekend. THABANG KGELEDI takes a look at what’s going right and wrong in Soweto.
Trending Up: Chiefs on the rise
If you had an internet connection and didn’t know any better, you would think that Kaizer Chiefs are languishing second from bottom of the league. Various tweets, memes, and internet jokes have been floating around the social media mocking coach Steve Komphela lately. Calls for the coach to be sacked are unfounded because Amakhosi are sitting sweetly in second spot, 0nly a solitary point behind Cape Town City.
According to the club’s chairman, Kaizer Motaung, Amakhosi have used the summer break as a ‘second pre-season’. The time was used to get back to the drawing board to see how the team could be improved. Management concluded good signings in the January transfer market and the team looks fit. Siphiwe Tshabalala has been playing at an exhilarating elite level, which prompted Komphela, his coach, to make a humorous but endearing compliment when he exclaimed ‘I don’t know what Shabba is having lately and what he’s having, he needs a super dose of that.’.
Chiefs aren’t playing the most appealing football, but they are getting the job done and as Tiger Woods once said, ‘winning solves everything’. Have the Glamour Boys turned the corner? Well, the last time we thought that was the case they inexplicably went on a run of eight games without a win, so this time we will let it play out before the next assertion is made.
Trending Down: Orlando Pirates thumped … again!
While one Soweto giant is enjoying a run of form, their rivals, on the other hand, are in the midst of a(nother) disastrous crisis. Orlando Pirates were figuratively beaten mercilessly by Mamelodi Sundowns, which led to their fans ruining the spectacle by storming on to the field in protest and then being beaten literally by security and annoyed Sundowns supporters.
This is the second time in 11 games where an Orlando Pirates goalkeeper picked the ball out of his net SIX times. The first came against Supersport United on 1 November last year. This loss led to the resignation of Muhsin Ertugral live on national television. ‘Good riddance’ they said at the time. And now? Three months later, Orlando Pirates have shipped another half a dozen goals.
In November it was thought that the coach was the problem. He left, now who is to blame for this atrocious showing? It goes beyond the players and the technical staff. This dysfunction seems to stem from all the way from the top. The Sea Robbers are sinking faster than a heavyset man in quicksand. Pirates management are doing a disservice to their supporters. Other than signing a plethora of players, who may be talented yes, but have no use in the squad, they have also been stalling about appointing a new coach. The players are disheartened, the supporters are infuriated, and the powers that be are sitting back and watching this happen …
Oh what different tales for the two Soweto giants!
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Photo: Muzi Ntombela/Backpagepix
