Former Orlando Pirates defender Tonic Chabalala has explained why he thinks Abdeslam Ouaddou’s side faces the best opportunity to break Mamelodi Sundowns’ Betway Premiership dominance this season.
The Brazilians have won the PSL title for eight successive seasons, with their traditional rivals, Kaizer Chiefs and the Buccaneers, struggling to stop them. Although they are not that ruthless outfit of recent years, Sundowns remain on course to be crowned champions for a ninth straight term.
They lead the standings with a point ahead of second-placed Sekhukhune United, who have played one game less than them. In third position are Pirates with six points fewer than the Brazilians, having played three league games fewer than Sundowns.
That places the Soweto giants in an encouraging position to overtake the Masandawana. Also making Pirates title favourites is that they are currently on an eight-match winning streak in all competitions. Impressively, they have kept clean sheets in those games, a record in the PSL era.
The Buccaneers have also been dominating the Bafana Bafana set-up, with three of their players, Thalente Mbatha, Oswin Appollis and Evidence Makgopa, being on target against Rwanda most recently. That helped South Africa seal a 2026 FIFA World Cup berth by beating Amavubi 3-0.
WHY THIS IS PIRATES’ BIGGEST CHANCE TO TOPPLE SUNDOWNS IN THE PSL
“Look at that Sundowns that would build from the back, rotate the ball, and whenever they want to score, they would just go and do that. They were a well-oiled machine,” Chabalala told FARPost.
“But if you look at them now, that oomph is no longer there. But now, if you look at Pirates, those boys are on another level; the confidence is there, everything is there. What they just need is to get in there and continue doing well.”
Chabalala added: “A number of them were in the Bafana squad, and those players are the ones who made an impact. We used to know that Sundowns have Ronwen [Williams], [Grant] Kekana, [Khuliso] Mudau and others, maybe like eight players or so, but now it’s vice-versa.”
“Pirates are now dominating. If Pirates can’t win the league title this season, they’ll never win it again. We see a sloppy Sundowns; they are no longer the Sundowns that we used to know. They are beatable.
“They are winning 1-0 and not the Sundowns that used to score four or three goals. I don’t see them winning the league title unless they change their attitude or their style of play.
“So, it’s up to Pirates to say, ‘guys, we have an opportunity, we have been dominating in cup games, but this time we need to win the league for the fans and the chairman [Irvin Khoza].’”
Since the 2011/12 season, Pirates have not been crowned PSL champions but have been runners-up on a number of occasions, earning themselves the right to play CAF Champions League football.
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