Unless affluent Premier Soccer League (PSL) champions Mamelodi Sundowns find their way back on to a path of respectability in their PSL encounter against Benoni United at Atteridgeville’s Super Stadium on Wednesday night, coach Gordon Igesund and his team could find themselves over a barrel.
First Igesund mistakingly castigated the referee and his assistants for non-existent blunders that supposedly brought about Sundowns’ second humbling defeat within a week against a resolute but modest Ajax Cape Town combination.
Then the coach turned his scathing attention on his own expensively assembled players, claiming at least five of them were performing without any degree of drive and urgency and had become dangerously complacent.
So, more pertinent perhaps, is the personal plight of Igesund himself, who after a promising beginning with Sundowns a couple of months ago is now looking very much like a driver who has strayed off the beaten track and is wandering around aimlessly.
Remember, too, that the owner of the expensive Sundowns soccer vehicle, Patrice Motsepe, does not take kindly to losers and is not averse to trade in his latest model at the drop of a hat.
And while Sundowns, generally expected to be winning, are losing, the newly promoted Benoni team nicknamed the Rabbits are winning games they are supposed to be losing.
Orlando Pirates, Wits University and Jomo Cosmos, among others, have all been accounted for by a team whose slick, short-passing style has left more-vaunted opponents running around in circles.
Unless Igesund and his players halt the slide that is endangering their prospects of retaining the PSL championship, expect some serious repercussions emanating from Sundowns’ headquarters at Chloorkop.
But urgency is one thing and panic is another altogether, and if Igesund confuses the two and makes rushed changes, Sundowns could indeed be facing a serious crisis. — Sapa