Staff Reporter.
Mamelodi Sundowns and Kaizer Chiefs will mark National Women’s Day with a heavyweight DStv Premiership clash at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Tshwane on Wednesday afternoon.
The match was initially scheduled to take place in Loftus Versveld stadium, the venue was changed by ongoing work at the stadium.
Kick-off is at 15:00.
Sundowns come into the match having opened the defence of their DStv Premiership title with a hard-fought 2-1 win away to Sekhukhune United on Friday evening. Goals from Peter Shalulile and Lucas Costa were enough for ‘Downs to bag maximum points, despite Jamie Webber pulling one back for the hosts on the hour mark. The opening match of the new season also saw Vusimusi Mncube and Rivaldo Coetzee sent for early showers, as both teams ended with 10 men.
Chiefs, meanwhile, were held to a frustrating 0-0 draw by Chippa United at the Moses Mabhida Stadium on Sunday afternoon. In the Amakhosi’s first match under new coach Molefi Ntseki, they struggled to find an attacking rhythm, too often giving the ball away cheaply and lacking the sharpness to unlock the Chilli Boys’ deep-lying defence. A clean sheet and a point on the board is far from a terrible start, but it will reflect as a poor result if they follow it up by falling to the champions.
In head-to-head stats, Sundowns and Chiefs have met in 76 league matches dating back as far as 1985. The Amakhosi have claimed 29 wins compared to 26 for the Brazilians, while 21 games have ended in draws. The Tshwane side’s home record in the rivalry reads P38 W17 D9 L12.
The teams’ league meetings last season saw Sundowns record a ‘double’ over Chiefs, with a 4-0 home win (goals from Gaston Sirino, Peter Shalulile [two] and Abubeker Nasir) in August 2022 and 1-0 away win (Neo Maema with the only goal) in January of this year.
What the two teams are saying ahead of their clash
Sundowns Coach Rhulani Mokwena
“The boys were very brave. They put in a very good shift. The new players, I am very proud of their effort. A lot of work was done to strengthen the squad in the transfers, we got our five and they will settle a bit and try to improve the team.
“[Thapelo] Maseko… That’s why we bought him [from rivals SuperSport United]. He gives the team something that we did not have last season. I forget sometimes that Maseko is only 19. He’s got a lot of potential and we just need to continue to help him and coach him and try to get him to give even better performances.”
Chiefs coach Molefi Ntseki
“It’s unfortunate we didn’t score, but I think if you look at the different moments of the game, being the first game we did well, except for giving the ball away cheaply, which almost hurt us. But I think without conceding the goal, the boys did very well, they applied themselves. We can’t fault the effort they had to put in, but tactically speaking we can do better.
“It’s important to take shots at goal, because we can’t break a deep block with those short passes. What is important is how do we add numbers? What type of crosses do you put in? I think that’s something we will be working on.”
Midweek DSTV Premiership Fixture
Tuesday, 8 August
Richards Bay v Golden Arrows – 17:00
Orlando Pirates v Royal AM – 19:30
Wednesday, 9 August
Mamelodi Sundowns v Kaizer Chiefs – 15:00
Swallows v Cape Town City – 15:00
AmaZulu v SuperSport United – 17:30
Chippa United v TS Galaxy – 19:30.