Andrew Muchineripi soccer The fifth edition of the Castle premiership league football marathon kicked off this week with the leading actors half a continent away, passing the time waiting for a flight home from the Cameroonian city of Douala. Sundowns arrived in Johannesburg only on Thursday after a gutsy 2-1 African Champions League victory over Sable Batie on the worst pitch this humble scribe has witnessed for many a day. In their absence, 16 other clubs got down to business with narrow victories for Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates and a spate of draws that possibly signify a close championship race. It really is asking a lot of Sundowns to win four titles in a row, especially as the club have admitted that priority number one is emulating Orlando Pirates and conquering Africa. Still, a team with sufficient strength that they can leave midfield artist Roger Feutmba on the sidelines in Cameroon because the pitch did not suit his passing game dare not be discounted.
As Manchester United have proven in England over the past few seasons, it is no longer good enough to boast 11 good players. Success comes to those with at least 18 first-class players.
In that case, look no further than traditional protagonists Sundowns, Chiefs and Pirates, whose reserve teams would probably give at least half the 18 Premiership clubs a difficult time.
But this is not good news as one of the reasons for poor attendances in recent seasons is the predictability of the Premiership with the big three fighting for the top prize and the rest engaged in a private battle. Chiefs could be in serious trouble when star striker Siyabonga Nomvete moves abroad and non-stop football at club and national team level has severely blunted his sharpness. Pollen Ndlanya, the man many believed was the answer to the Amakhosi attacking malaise, has gone to Pirates, who were obviously prepared to pay the sort of money that Chiefs were not. Pirates will also benefit from the imminent return of Bafana Bafana defender Papi Khomane and seem a better bet to worry Sundowns than Chiefs, who have been put off by a R1,2-million price tag on Bush Bucks star Patrick Mayo. There is a feeling that if anybody is going to rock the boat and make life a little more interesting it will be a Cape club, with Ajax Cape Town, who finished fourth last season, perhaps the best bet. Santos, a team that has had several narrow escapes from relegation, are extremely upbeat and believe former national coach Clive Barker can take them to a higher level. Hellenic never cease to unearth young talent and, coupled with several signings from neighbouring countries, are capable of doing better than last season, when they scraped into the Top 8 competition.
A team that much more will be expected of is SuperSport United, whose 10th-place finish camouflaged a season mainly spent in, or on the fringe of, the relegation zone. Big money has been poured into the Pretoria club and new signing Sammy Magalefa from Wits University wasted no time proving his worth with both goals in a 2-2 draw at Manning Rangers. So long the personal fiefdom of Gordon Igesund, Rangers are now under former Chiefs, Sundowns and Pirates coach Ted Dumitru, who will be hard-pressed to keep the Mighty Maulers among the top six. The other Durban clubs, African Wanderers and newly promoted Lamontville Golden Arrows, were widely tipped as relegation candidates before a ball was kicked in anger. Arrows are an unknown quantity while Wanderers just dodged the drop last year and have lost strike partners Tony Ilodigwe to Chiefs and Snothi Mathalane to Sundowns. Free State clubs Celtic and Stars avoided relegation by just four points and there have been no close-season indications that it is going to be much better this time round. Stars sold defender Themba Seli and midfielder Thato Mokoena to Chiefs while hiring lesser mortals and Celtic have lost Amaglug-glug defender Fabien McCarthy to a Cypriot club.
Phunya Se le Sele (Celtic) imported another couple of Lesotho internationals, including Castle Cup hero goalkeeper Tseliso Thite, but one cannot see them finishing higher than mid-table.
Wits did exceptionally well to finish sixth last season and may not be able to match that achievement, while much more is expected of Moroka Swallows, who can match the best until it comes to finishing.