NKARENG MATSHE | One-horse race makes mockery of PSL chasing pack

The DStv Premiership title procession masquerading as a race has concluded with the predictable whimper, Mamelodi Sundowns cantering to glory without even a sweat as they sealed their sixth successive championship.

It’s a serious indictment on our domestic league whose standards have deteriorated to the level where one team stands out and the rest are united in mediocrity. The league standings tell us so: You remove Sundowns, then you have a heated race where as many as five teams can still claim second spot, and anyone from eighth place can get relegated. Other stats also tell the story of ours being a one-team league as the Brazilians are thus far the only team who’ve scored over 40 goals. Next best? SuperSport United with 31.

Sundowns have truly stood out since Rulani Mokwena assumed the sole responsibility as head coach, freed from the previous shackles of nonsensical co-coaching. Mokwena is yet to lose a match – in any format – and that’s testament to his competence despite previous reservations that as someone who hadn’t played professionally, he could somehow be found wanting.

It’s testimony to his high performance that the past three matches, where Sundowns have failed to win, have delivered the first bit of scrutiny around his regime, though his detractors may have overlooked the fact that Sundowns played all those on the back of knowing the championship was in the bag.

The season may be left with only a few weeks but it could also go awry for Mokoena, with tomorrow’s tricky trip to Stellenbosch – the first domestic team to stop Sundowns’ winning streak back in March – in the Nedbank Cup quarterfinal looming.  

There’s also the CAF Champions League last eight, which has proven to be Downs’ Achilles heel over the past few years, against Algeria’s CR Belouizdad next week.

It’s probably the toughest test yet for Mokwena, and he would have heard that similar line the moment he took sole charge in September last year after Sundowns’ defeat – their last – to Orlando Pirates in the MTN8. He has passed several of those “tests” along the way, endearing himself as an astute manager and earning the wrath of some only for his over-the-board touchline histrionics.

While Mokwena has excelled and hit the ground running, it’s been a dire state elsewhere in the league, which is lamentable given we were not so long ago used to close run-ins in the race for the title.

Just three years ago, Pitso Mosimane’s Sundowns overturned a 10-point gap to overhaul Kaizer Chiefs at the top, with Ernst Middendorp’s side losing the championship with about half an hour to go in the final game.

A year earlier, our TV remotes flipped constantly between the Orlando Pirates v Polokwane City and Free State Stars v Sundowns games, as we were uncertain which way the title would go. Ultimately, Sundowns prevailed in what was a close shave.

But now with five matches to go, the relegation race is what keeps us interested, which makes the non-broadcast of this week’s epic six-pointer between Chippa and Marumo Gallants all the more curious.

There’s no question that while Sundowns have become better, despite hitting bumps here and there, other teams are declining. The past two seasons’ runners up, AmaZulu and Cape Town City, are nowhere near those heights, while Chiefs and Pirates are battling to reach 50 points.

As a result, the gap at the top – Sundowns are 19 points clear – has widened from last year’s 16, and we are not done yet.   

Over at the NFD, they don’t have such monotony because the top three, Polokwane, Cape Town Spurs and Casric Stars, are all on 50 points with four matches left. Now, that’s a title race to speak of.