SOCCER
Ngwako Modjadji
Caledonian stadium in Pretoria will be the centre of attention this weekend when two Pretoria giants fight it out in the Premier Soccer League (PSL).
In their first-round match Supersport United eclipsed Sundowns 2-1 and the Mamelodi side will be all out to avenge that defeat.
The Brazilians have had a patchy run recently. They lost 2-1 to Ajax Cape Town and played to a goalless draw with Jomo Cosmos then followed that up by handing out a thrashing to relegation-haunted Tembisa Classic. Last week they hammered Pirates 3-1 at Loftus to make things interesting at the top of the log.
This week Moroka Swallows, who were the pacesetters early in the season, moved into second position after the Dube Birds walloped Ajax 4-0 in a one-sided PSL match at Herman Immelman stadium.
The Dube Birds moved ominously within five points of log leaders Santos in what is proving to be a topsy-turvy season. But there will still be tears of joy and sadness, as Swallows still have to lock horns with Kaizer Chiefs who are out of the running in 10th spot.
Third-placed Pirates have six games to play, against Jomo Cosmos, pacesetters Santos, Black Leopards, Amazulu, Wits University and Kaizer Chiefs and must win all the games if they hope to lift the cup at the end of the season.
Supersport are fourth and have four games to play, against Amzulu, Jomo Cosmos, Kaizer Chiefs and Ria Stars.
In another weekend game Classic will be fighting for their premiership pride only when they take on Ria Stars, who are in eighth place, at Makhulong stadium. Classic plunged further into crisis when they were beaten 2-0 by Free State Stars at Charles Mopeli stadium.
Classic, who have so far played 30 games, have just four matches left in the top flight. Even if they win all their remaining games they will not avoid the chop.
The “People’s Team”, Santos, are still in the top slot in the race for the PSL league title with 55 points.
This week was not a good week for two Soweto giants. Orlando Pirates, still smarting from the weekend loss to Sundowns, left for the first round, second leg African Champions League tie against St Louisienne in Runion without uitility player Steve Lekoela.
Lekoela did not pitch up at Johannesburg International airport when the club was due to fly to Mauritius.
Kaizer Chiefs were this week still struggling to secure a flight to Madagascar for the second leg of their African Cup Winner’s Cup clash against US Transfoot. There is political instability in that country so flights were cancelled.
Chiefs walloped US Transfoot 4-0 in the first leg two weeks ago in Ellis Park stadium. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) refused earlier Chiefs requests to reschedule the game .
The South African soccer fraternity suffered a blow when Irvin Khoza resigned his position as chairman of the PSL’s sponsorship committee citing clash of interests. Pirates’ “Iron Duke” has been with the committee since the inception of the league in the 1996/97 season.