Winners & Losers: Soweto Derby Weekend

Patrick Maswanganyi’s late penalty was enough to grab all the points and remain within touching distance of a Sundowns side that are cruising along themselves. There were wins also for TS Galaxy, Polokwane City, and AmaZulu. Winners & Losers is a statistical review of the weekend action.

Winners

Jose Riveiro

He was humble in victory, suggesting a 0-0 draw would have been a fair result, but there is no denying he was the happiest of the Happy people. With that, Riveirp became the first Orlando Pirates coach in PSL history to win four consecutive Soweto derby matches against Chiefs, and the first to win four derbies overall.

1 – Only one coach oin PSL history (Chiefs’ Stuart Baxter, 5) who has won more Soweto Derby matches than him on either side.

Pirates serving a title race

Sundowns are still the team to beat – they are defensimg champions and league leaders, but for the first time in a long time, we may have a title race on our hands. 10 wins from 12 games suggests a team that will challenge for a while. With the two teams set to meet this coming weekend, it was important that they stayed in touch.

30 – Pirates have won 30 points from their 12 games this season, the fastest they have ever reached the 30 points mark in PSL history.

Sundowns’ winning streak

Sundowns, on the other hand, have had an air of serenity about them for much of this season. Apart from their defeat away to Polokwane City, they have looked fairly solid, winning the rest of their games. The latest of those was 4-0 over Arrows on their weekend, done without breaking into too much of a sweat.

8 – Sundowns have won eight consecutive league games, the longest winning streak of any team this season.

Polokwane City

That’s 28 points in their 15 games this season, the club’s best tally at the halfway stage of a PSL top-flight campaign. Top8 looks a banker, but they may be aiming higher.

8 – No team in the 30-game era has ever finished outside the Top8 with 28+ points from 15 games

TS Galaxy

A team in form, and quietly going about their business.

9 – TS Galaxy (W4 D5) are unbeaten in nine league games, the longest unbeaten run of any team in the league this season.

Miguel Cardoso

Plunged into the hot seat in the middle of a title race and acomplex CAF campaign, Miguel Cardoso would be excused for taking time to settle at Sundowns. But the words “time to settle” and “Sundowns” in the same sentence do not go together. Pressure.What pressure?

5 – Miguel Cardoso is only the second Sundowns coach in PSL history to win each of his first five league games in charge of the club, after Rhulani Mokwena (11 in 2022/23).

Losers

Richards Bay & Magesi

Friday nights used to be Maritzburg United nights, with full crowds and goals usually guaranteed to kickstart the football weekend. We were far from that this past Friday, as the teams served upadreary 0-0 draw.

10 – Richards Bay and Magesi have failed to score in 10 league matches this season, which is more than any other side.

SuperSport United

Halfway through the season, and Matsatsantsa have scored a measly six goals. Pirates netted 8 in one game, TS Galaxy bagged seven recently in a Cup game too.

16 – This is SuperSport United’s lowest points total at the halfway stage of a PSL season.