Chiefs, Pirates don’t pose threat to Sundowns’ league title defence – Mngqithi

Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates have built up a lot of expectations for the coming season, given the number of players they have recruited and new coaches at the helm.

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But Mamelodi Sundowns co-head coach Manqoba Mngqithi who does not count the Soweto giants among those who pose a threat to their DStv Premiership title defence.

“Other teams still have to fight to move from position six to position three and others have to fight to move into the top half of the table. The teams who are in direct competition at this stage are Cape Town City, Stellenbosch and Royal AM,” said Mngqithi.

“They are progressing very well as the seasons go by and I still expect them to cause a lot of problems. I see that Pirates and Chiefs have signed a lot of good players but I understand that it takes a little bit longer for the team to gel when it’s got a lot of new faces,” he added.

Masandawana have been the dominant figure in local football over recent years with five league crowns on the spin, but not once have they had it easy, at least according to Mngqithi, who debunks the perception of Sundowns bulldozing everyone to the championship.

“Running away with the league is something that has never happened. It has always been tough, it just looks like we are running away with it at the end but the truth of the matter is that what helps us now is that the teams that are always chasing us, beat each other. That is where the notion of running away with it comes in,” he said.

“When we target to win a particular match it is because we know that it is very unlikely that the next competitor can win against the team that we just beat. It is very important to look at the season like that because that is where it won or lost.

“If we beat Cape Town City in the opening game, we know that they can beat the next five teams and the same applies to the rest of the top teams. If you bet the teams in the top five, you are already putting your foot forward,” Mngqithi added.