Sundowns have set the bar too high for Soweto giants

Over the past couple of years the two biggest teams in South African football, Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates have been on a steady decline on the football pitch and it is not for the fact that they are doing badly, especially on the part of the Buccaneers who have finished in the top two in the Absa Premiership in the last two seasons.

The main reason why Amakhosi and the Sea Robbers seem like they have lost their royalty status is Mamelodi Sundowns. Since Pitso Mosimane took over the club in December 2012 where he inherited the mess left behind by Dutch legend Johan Neeskens, Sundowns have done well under him.

But as the saying goes, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”, Mosimane has led Masandawana to more domestic trophies than the two Soweto giants combined in recent years and they have claimed as many league titles the Premier Soccer League in six years – something that took the Glamour Boys and the Happy People over a decade to amass.

The masses still flock the stadiums when these two giants play and it is obvious that the following is unlikely to decline any time soon, if at all. However, the sad reality is that they are not doing well where it counts the most, on the field of play. For a mighty franchise like Chiefs to go five seasons without a trophy is almost unbelievable. The situation at Pirates is just as worse – they have not lifted any silverware since 2014.

A friend of mine who is studying medicine in Russia is around the country for holidays and when we bumped into each other not so long ago, she asked me when did Sundowns become the team to beat because she grew up knowing Amakhosi being the cup kings of South Africa. After all, Kaizer Motaung’s teams are the undisputed cup kings of South Africa as they have claimed more trophies than any other team.

Sundowns have a superior financial muscle and they are able to dangle their supposed blank cheque – thanks to the backing of club owner and billionaire Patrice Motsepe.

Mosimane once said his side ranks among the best on the land and their only competition are the so-called big two from Soweto and in recent years, Sundowns have surpassed them by miles on the pitch, I don’t think they will catch up any time soon.

“I have always said that we are competing with Pirates and Chiefs. We are part of the big teams. There are so many ways to describe what a big team is. We can talk about it and argue we can talk about the nine titles that we won, we can talk about the Champions League and the Super Cup and the Fifa Club World Cup that we have played. But they have more on their side if they have to retaliate,” said Mosimane.

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