SuperSport United will host Tshwane rivals Mamelodi Sundowns in a local derby on Wednesday, with both sides currently sitting in the top three in the DStv Premiership.
SuperSport are having a resurgence under coach Gavin Hunt, while Sundowns have looked unstoppable in recent months and will be heavy favourites. We round up the numbers on the Tshwane Derby.
0 – Sundowns coach Rulani Mokwena remains undefeated as a sole head coach in the DStv Premiership. Since he took lone charge of the side they have won 25 and drawn six of their 31 league games.
1 – SuperSport have only drawn one of their last 16 home games in all competitions, a 0-0 stalemate with Stellenbosch FC in the league. They have won 11 and lost four of the remaining 15 games.
3 – SuperSport had built their home into a fortress in the last few seasons, but this term have lost three of their last six on their own patch – to Stellenbosch FC (0-1), Lamontville Golden Arrows (0-3) and Polokwane City (1-4). To be fair, two of those losses came at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, and the other at TUT Stadium. They are back at Lucas Moripe for this clash.
4 – Richard Peer and the late Abram Raselemane have the most goals for SuperSport in matches between these two sides. Teboho Mokoena was on three before he switched sides to join The Brazilians!
4 – Sundowns’ biggest victory over SuperSport was a 5-1 success in the 1993 season when Daniel Mudau incredibly scored all five goals for The Brazilians.
4 – SuperSport’s biggest win was also by a four-goal margin as they claimed a 4-0 success in the 1998/99 campaign. Ironically, Sundowns finished champions that year!
4 – There have been four hattricks in this fixture over the years. Mudau (1993) with his five goals, Bennett Masinga (1994) scored three for Sundowns the following year, Tico-Tico (2005) got a treble in an Absa Cup quarterfinal win for SuperSport and Anthony Laffor netted three as Matsatsantsa netted three in a 4-1 league win in 2009.
7 – Sundowns have purchased seven players from SuperSport since 2018 – left-sided utility player Aubrey Modiba, defender Grant Kekana, midfielders Teboho Mokoena, Sipho Mbule and Thapelo Maseko, and goalkeepers Reyaad Pieterse and Ronwen Williams. All are still with the team.
8 – Sundowns are on a run of eight straight wins in the league this season. Their record is 15 wins in succession, set between September 2022 and March 2023. Ironically, that run started after a 2-1 loss to SuperSport! It was broken by a 1-1 draw at Stellenbosch FC.
13 – Sundowns have scored at least once in each of their last 13 DStv Premiership games. They last failed to score in a pair of back-to-back 0-0 draws against Cape Town City and Moroka Swallows in April.
13 – A strange anomaly is that SuperSport have had more joy on the road against Sundowns that at home. They have 13 wins at the home of The Brazilians compared to only nine on their own patch, though over time the teams have shared the Lucas Moripe Stadium, so SuperSport will have felt comfortable being ‘away’ there.
14 – Daniel Mudau has the most goals for Sundowns in this fixture as he regularly punished SuperSport, including those five goals 30 years ago. The next highest on the list are Bennett Masinga and Themba Zwane, who both have six.
16 – There have only ever been 16 draws out of the 81 previous games, around one in five contests, which is quite low in the South African context.
32 – It has been 32 DStv Premiership games since Sundowns last lost in the domestic league … to SuperSport! That came in early September 2022. Since then they have won 26 and drawn six matches.
81 – The number of clashes between the sides in all competitions over the years. Sixty-three of those have come in the league and 17 in cup competitions. Sundowns have won 43 of those to go with 21 victories for SuperSport.
121 – The number of goals scored by Sundowns in meetings in all competitions. That is considerably more than SuperSport’s 82. The Brazilians have netted 97 of those in the league, can they bring up their century this time?
1990 – The first clash between the two sides was 33 years ago before satellite channel SuperSport had purchased the franchise of Pretoria City and rebranded the club. The league clash ended 1-0 in Sundowns’ favour as Zane Moosa scored the only goal.