Urban legend at cycling’s greatest event, the Tour de France, is that the race is toughest on the man wearing the maillot jaune — the yellow jersey.
So it seems it is with South African football and the men in yellow jerseys — Mamelodi Sundowns.
They seem not only burdened by the colour of their jerseys but also by expectations that they have
engineered.
How well they will be able to carry this burden starts this weekend when they take on Free State Stars in the quarterfinals of the newly launched MTN 8 competition in Pretoria on Sunday.
By splashing out on a figure that is probably higher than the Gauteng agricultural department’s annual budget, Patrice Motsepe has made Sundowns the club others want to beat, something a Kaizer Chiefs second string was able to do last week in the Telkom Charity match.
Sundowns will have to come to terms with being an object of derision each time they fail to win a match. Call it jealousy, but it will remain as long as their opponents know that the club is governed by an unfair advantage — the third wealthiest man in South Africa.
Free State Stars come from the proverbial wrong side of the tracks. In the past the club’s boss had to sell the club’s status when the financial demands of running a professional club proved too much. The club had to work its way back to the top. This is in itself a victory for the underdogs. Expect them then to make Sundowns’ lives as difficult as possible.
Sundowns’ wealth is not confined to the club boss’s bank statements or the players. In Ted Dumitru (technical director), Trott Moloto (coach), and Harris Choeu and Simon Ngomane as Moloto’s assistants, they have arguably the richest collective brain trust in the land.
Dumitru is highly regarded as a football theorist. Choeu was one of the country’s best midfielders when he played for Witbank Black Aces and Sundowns.
Moloto is a former Bafana Bafana coach and has the Africa Cup of Nations bronze medal to show for it.
Ngomane is one of the highest qualified coaches in South Africa, with football’s equivalent of an MBA.
On paper the Sundowns’ match should not be more exciting than the encounter between league champs SuperSport United and what the fans hope is a resurgent Orlando Pirates side who last week won their first title in six years.
It is also unlikely to be as tight as the match between Chiefs and Santos or as evenly poised as the Brazilian-flavoured Moroka Swallows encounter against Ajax Cape Town, but just being Sundowns and wearing that yellow jersey will make them the side everyone wants to watch. And beat.