Chippa United will look to put an early dent in Mamelodi Sundowns’ DStv Premiership title defence when they host the champions at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday night in the pick of six matches played across the weekend.
Chippa have proven a resilient and determined team thus far in the 2023-24 season, holding Kaizer Chiefs, TS Galaxy and – just this midweek – Orlando Pirates to stalemates. Facing the country’s three biggest and most successful teams in their opening four league fixtures has not daunted the Chilli Boys under the leadership of coach Morgan Mammila.
“Let them [Sundowns] come, we’re waiting for them,” said the Chippa coach. “The fixtures said we had to play three top teams in a matter of five games. They’re next, they are gonna get the same thing, no parking of the bus, pound for pound. I don’t care who you are, we’re equal here.”
Sundowns, though, looked in imperious form in midweek when they crushed Golden Arrows 4-0 to rack up a third straight win and continue their perfect start to the campaign.
The Brazilians blitzed into a four-goal lead by early in the second half (thanks to goals from Peter Shalulile, Lesiba Nku [two] and Grant Kekana) and then eased off the throttle for the remainder of the game. Their only worry was Shalulile limping off with injury, but coach Rulani Mokwena’s squad easily has the depth to cope with absentees even this early in the season.
“We’ll wait for medical feedback [on Shalulile] but good to see Junior [Mendieta] on the pitch, Terrence [Mashego] on the pitch, good to see AB [Abdelmounaim Boutouil] on the pitch, [Bongani] Zungu on the pitch also getting 45 minutes under his belt... they’ll get better,” said the Sundowns boss.
The round opens on Friday with simultaneous matches at the Harry Gwala Stadium and TUT Stadium, as Royal AM host Stellenbosch FC and Cape Town City visit SuperSport United.
In the latter clash, both City and United are looking to bounce back from their MTN8 exits last weekend – though Citizens coach Eric Tinkler is very upbeat about the way his team is transferring training ground work into competitive matches.
“Everything that we do in training, I’m seeing it being applied by the players and the fact that they believe in it,” said the former Bafana Bafana hard man. “For me, that’s how I judge the team. I don’t judge my team based on results, whether we get three or zero points.
“I judge it on the performance and what we do on the day-to-day training and preparations. If I see that, then I know we are moving in the right direction. I firmly believe we will win more games looking at the way we are playing right now.”
Saturday, aside from the Chippa v Sundowns clash, features a battle between promoted sides Polokwane City and Cape Town Spurs at the old Peter Mokaba Stadium, as well as a KwaZulu-Natal derby between AmaZulu and Richards Bay at Moses Mabhida Stadium, while Sunday’s lone game sees TS Galaxy hosting Kaizer Chiefs at the Mbombela Stadium.
The Amakhosi claimed a first win under Molefi Ntseki when they overcame Cape Town City in the MTN8 last weekend, and the coach is hopeful that it will spark a momentum switch for the team in gold and black.
“It is a positive result that we needed and I said at the beginning of the game that this is our time. We have to turn things around. It is the first win for the boys after so many chances that we created,” said Ntseki.
DStv Premiership weekend fixtures
Times CAT
Friday 18 August
19:30: Royal AM v Stellenbosch FC
19:30: SuperSport United v Cape Town City
Saturday 19 August
15:00: Polokwane City v Cape Town Spurs
17:30: AmaZulu v Richards Bay
20:00: Chippa United v Mamelodi Sundowns
Sunday 20 August
15:00: TS Galaxy v Kaizer Chiefs