Sundowns set to become the fall guy
JOBURG - The seeding system in the Telkom Knockout competition has again helped the football big guns to avoid meeting each other in the early stages of the cup tournament.
The seeding system in the Telkom Knockout competition has again helped the football big guns to avoid meeting each other in the early stages of the cup tournament.
Mamelodi Sundowns, Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs and SuperSport United again avoided each other in the quarter final draw which was conducted at the Premier Soccer League offices in Parktown.
The Telkom Knockout Cup uses the seeding system, where the top eight teams in the 16 team Absa Premiership are given a seeding status in the cup. The same happened again when the quarter final draw was conducted. The top four teams in the previous season of the premiership were handed the seeding advantage to avoid each other.
Sundowns will face the Durban side AmaZulu, Orlando Pirates will be home to Cape Town side Ajax Cape Town, Kaizer Chiefs will be home to defending champions Platinum Stars and United will be away to Bidvest Wits.
“The kick-off times, venue and dates for the matches will be confirmed later when the league meets together with sponsors, Telkom, to make the decision,” said the league’s Luxolo September soon after the draw. The draw was conducted by the league’s general manager of football, Derek Blanckensee.
Of the four seeded teams, Sundowns looks set to become the fall guy when they host AmaZulu, judging from their performance against the University of Pretoria in the last 16 of the tournament. Downs needed extra time to clinch a 2-1 victory.
AmaZulu on the other showed their fighting spirit when they edged out Bloemfontein Celtic 3-2, from being two goals down. AmaZulu came back from the dressing room and performed ‘miracles’ to overcome Celtic.
Pirates and Chiefs are expected to have a walk in the park when they host Ajax and Stars respectively, though Ajax coach Roger De Sa is expected to come out with guns blazing against his former team.
The only encounter that seems to be a see-saw is Wits and United, although the upper hand seems to fall on former Bafana Bafana coach Gordon Ingesund, who is unbeaten in four matches since taking over the coaching reigns of United from sacked Cavin Johnson.
