It was very much a case of being ”in the zone” when the Premier Soccer League (PSL) held a media conference on Monday to boost the feature game between Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates at Loftus on Wednesday night.
PSL CEO Trevor Phillips announced that seating at the Pretoria stadium will be divided into newly allocated zones to keep the fans from the respective clubs ”in their place” as a deterrent against emotions spilling over and causing ugly incidents.
”With three clubs, Kaizer Chiefs, SuperSport United and Sundowns all using Loftus as a home venue at the moment,” he said, ”there has been a measure of confusion among the fans as to exactly where they should be seated. So we’ve introduced a number of different zones and designated tickets for a particular zone.”
And getting into the zonal mood was new Pirates coach Bibey Mutombo, who credited a defensive zonal-marking system for turning round the club’s fortunes since he took over and sealing gaps in the backline that were responsible for many of the club’s early season woes.
”Zonal marking,” said Mutombo, ”has stabilised the defence and helped the team go six games without defeat. But also important has been the aggression and professionalism that I have tried to drum into the players.”
Mutombo, however, said it was too soon to view Pirates as potential league champions this season. ”We have made a great deal of progress in a short time,” he added, ”but the improvement is only 50% and for now, I am taking one game at a time.”
With a squad that is currently well-positioned to retain the PSL title, Sundowns coach Gordon Igesund said he was ”satisfied and impressed” with the team’s form and was confident of maintaining the standard against the Buccaneers.
Sundowns’ most serious problem at this moment appears to be in minimising the absence of prolific-scoring striker Jose Torrealba, who is serving a two-game suspension.
But Igesund said there were ”a number of options” he was mulling over and the depth of talent in the Downs camp should enable him to ”cover up” the loss of the Venezuelan international striker.
Another concern for Igesund is the fitness of talented midfielder Surprise Moriri, who has only a 50/50 chance of playing. ”But here again we have a number of potential replacements who can do a good job,” added the coach.
And with the recent impressive display while demolishing Chiefs as a guideline, it was evident that Igesund intended to remain in the zone as well. — Sapa