Mamelodi Sundowns defender Abdelmounaim Boutouil has suffered the ignominy of becoming the first player this season to be suspended for an accumulation of yellow cards.
The Moroccan centre back received his fourth yellow of the new DStv Premiership season on Wednesday as the champions beat Richards Bay 1-0 away to continue their 100 per cent start to the campaign.
Boutouil has played in all five games and picked up a caution in four of them, which means he is now suspended for Sundowns’ next outing against Polokwane City next Wednesday.
He picked up his fourth card in stoppage time on Wednesday, which means he alleviates the threat of missing out on the MTN8 semifinal against Kaizer Chiefs early next month.
Four yellow cards bring about a one-match suspension. Another four and a player sits out one more game.
A sending off, however, is a two-match suspension and a second sending off inside a single season sees that ban increased to three games.
Chippa United defender Azalo Ntsabo could be next as he has three cards in the four games he has played.
A yellow card in Friday’s away clash against Cape Town Spurs would take the 24-year-old right back over the edge.
There have already been three red cards this season – starting as early as the 16th minute of the first game of the season when Sekhukhune United’s Vusimuzi Mncube got sent off for a studs-high challenge in the match against Sundowns at the Peter Mokaba Stadium on August 4.
Sundowns midfielder Rivaldo Coetzee was also dismissed in that game and AmaZulu’s Thembela Sikhakhane got his marching orders five minutes before halftime of their game against SuperSport United.
Both Coetzee and Mncube are already back from suspension but Sikhakhane misses out on Saturday as he sits out the second match of his ban when AmaZulu visit Kaizer Chiefs at Soccer City.