The Kaizer Chiefs (Amakhosi) and Mamelodi Sundowns (The Brazilians) title cliffhanger is too close to call. Tomorrow’s last league matches of the season will decide where the league honours go and which team will turn up in the playoffs. Polokwane City have been relegated already.
Friday, September 04, 2020
The highly anticipated final day of the lengthy 2019/20 Absa Premiership league is upon us.
Oh, it has come to this! The final day. The first weekend of spring. The football fanatics await with relentless appetite.
Zakes Mda, Professor in the English Department at the University of Ohio, United States of America, provides a better description from his epic novel – The Heart of Redness:
Today will be “a showdown of all showdowns”.
Quite sadly, the fans will not be part of this unpredictable draw to the spectacular end of the current football rendition played in various “bio-bubble” venues across the Gauteng province. Thanks to Covid-19.
For the most part, the ultimate coronation matches are certainly going to set a tight finish on Saturday, Sep. 05.
All the end-of-the-season games of the elite league will kick off simultaneously at 15h30.
The toughest battles of the draws will be fought at the upper echelon and the lower rung of the league.
On top with 56 points apiece are Kaizer Chiefs and Mamelodi Sundowns separated by a 5-goal difference.
While the former will cross swords with Baroka FC in their last game, the latter will cross paths with Black Leopards.
Faced with the relegation dreaded axe, Baroka and Leopards will be fighting for their lives to stay afloat in the lucrative Premier League. Much more on this later.
Jostle for the crown
As it stands, a better goal difference stands Chiefs in good stead to clinch the marathon trophy.
On the other hand, Sundowns clawed back after a 13-point gap. A resounding come back on its own. Now they are level at the summit with Chiefs. They are counting on their upward momentum to ascend the Premiership inaugural stage for the third successive time (in a row).
All the same, Kaizer Chiefs have done so much entirely to cling to and stay on top of the log. They will surely not capitulate and surrender the pound seat quite easily. Not on the reckoning day. After all, the last time Chiefs had their hands on the coveted trophy was in the 2014/15 season under the stewardship of Stuart Baxter. The moment has arrived to turn the tide. Today might pronounce them back to trophy-lifting rituals. It is that close! Will the players live up to the mighty cherry bite?
However, the Amakhosi and The Brazilians title chase is too close to call. Should both these PSL giants get a draw this afternoon, Chiefs will be hailed the 2019/20 champions. Simply put, the pendulum swing favours them.
Again, a victory for both means Sundowns need to contend with mounting the 5-goal difference. A feat too difficult to accomplish against a team facing the semi-relegation drop.
Yet, their opponents – Leopards and Baroka – seem to have been written off. Lo and behold, football turns.
While accentuating the significance of securing the CAF Champions League spot, Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane has downplayed winning the PSL’s most prized cup. All things considered, The Brazilians are going for it. Mosimane is well aware that all it will take is one emphatic win. He will bank on the experience of his well-traveled stars to, one more time, deliver the priceless goods.
Meanwhile Chiefs coach Ernst Middendorp threw caution to the wind and said there are “no easy games” in the premier league. After all is said and done, he knows too well that nothing short of a trophy will please the Amakhosi faithful. What remains now is a single mighty stretch that Middendorp will urge his troops to master.
The Chiefs-Baroka and Sundowns-Leopards crunch games will be a cliff hanger.
For the puritans, these two fixtures are the highlight picks to watch closely on Saturday afternoon.
The drop danger zone
As far as the relegation slump goes, Polokwane City have put themselves out of their own misery. Their fixture with Bidvest Wits will be a mere formality.
Blatantly, Polokwane City will play in the second stream of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) next season.
Languishing at the relegation segment are AmaZulu FC on 29 points, Baroka on 28 points and Leopards on 29 points. Beyond a shadow of doubt, these three clubs will be in their survival duels to avoid the PSL playoffs. For them, it will be a sink or swim as they paddle their rocky ships sail the murky waters.
Only a team that finishes 15th on the league table participates in the playoffs involving teams that finished 2nd and 3rd from the second-tier league: GladAfrica Championship.
At face value, both Baroka and Leopards have the hardesh challenges in Chiefs and Sundowns in their own race to the championship coronation.
A loss for these relegation-bound clubs could be their coup de grâce. Much worse for Baroka FC occupying the 15th near drop-zone spot.
The bottom three confrontations will be grueling in the bitter wrap up to the last Premiership league edition sponsored by ABSA.
Saturday’s Concurrent Absa Premiership Fixtures
Baroka FC vs Kaizer Chiefs at Bidvest Stadium
Mamelodi Sundowns vs Black Leopards at Volkswagen Dobsonville Stadium
AmaZulu FC vs Highlands Park at Lucas Masterpieces Moripe Stadium
Chippa United vs Golden Arrows at Orlando Stadium
Bloemfontein Celtic vs Maritzburg United at ABSA Tuks Stadium
Bidvest Wits vs Polokwane City at FNB Stadium
Cape Town City FC vs SuperSport United at Loftus Versfeld Stadium
Orlando Pirates vs Stellenbosch at Emirates Airline Park