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PRO PHILANI’S MZANSI WRAP: Pirates & Sundowns dazzle, Chiefs stumble and more!


Royal AM beat Chiefs again, Sundowns cruise – Pro Philani looks back at what was a massive weekend of football on the South African front!

The DStv Premiership returned with a bang

The DStv Premiership returned with a bang when defending champions visited the Mother City for an affair with Cape Town City.
City, a side that finished second were banking on their rich form of 2022 to upset the Brazilians but were dealt a huge blow by the absence of regular back four of Thamsanqa Mkhize, Terrence Mashego, Taariq Fielies, and Nathan Idumba Fasika.
Mkhize and Mashego were nursing injuries, while Fielies and Idumba were battling with fitness.
In the second half, the Brazilians changed the tune and started to show their brilliance and quality.
Aubrey Modiba opened the scoring with a beautiful curler to make it 1-0 in the 61st minute. Themba Zwane made it 2-0 four minutes later to demoralize any City’s hopes of coming back.
In the end, it was debutant Ronwen Williams who kept the clean sheet and helped the champions return to Gauteng with a full complimentary of points.
Swallows were hard done by the referee who denied them a clear penalty as they went down 1-0 in the original Soweto Derby.
The Birds were a side in trouble as they had to play without the head coach, assistant coach as well as goalkeeper coach on the day.
Veteran midfielder Musa Nyatama had to fill the assistant coach role and sit on the bench to lead his teammates.
Pirates, on the other hand, appeared to be a side in the building process and their new striker Bienvenu Eva Nga showed why the club signed him when he netted the opener within 10 minutes.
The Cameroonian finished last season with 10 goals and seemed to be motivated to double last season’s goals at Pirates.
The Buccaneers will take the three points and move on to the next one.

Thwihli Thwahla gives ”Mangethe ball” something to think about.
Royal AM defeated Kaizer Chiefs 1-0 at the packed Chatsworth Stadium on Saturday evening.
Ricardo Nascimento scored as early as the second minute of the match when Chiefs failed to defend a corner.
The visitors tried to come back to the match but all their efforts were either cleared off the line or by the defense or by a resilient Man of the Match recipient Patrick Nyame.
Although AmaKhosi had 90% of the support on the day in the stands, AM players were prepared for everything thrown at them. Chiefs will look to change their fortunes at FNB stadium when they face another difficult side, Maritzburg United.

While at Maritzburg United, the team of choice played to a 1-1 draw against Sekhukhune United at the Harry Gwala stadium.
John Maduka’s young side fought back to even the score after a King Ndlovu error handed Tshegofatso Mabasa an easy opener in the first half.
In the second half, The Team of Choice fought harder and were rewarded with a penalty after Siphosakhe Ntiya-ntiya was adjudged to have fouled Branden Theron inside the box.
Bonginkosi Makume, United’s new signing, took responsibility but missed.
There was a scramble in the box and the ball fell for Man of the Match Bongani Sam who made no mistake to fire the home side back into the match.
Maritzburg will be motivated when they face Kaizer Chiefs at FNB stadium on Tuesday.
Other results:
Arrows 0-2 Richards Bay
SuperSport United 1-1 Chippa United
TS Galaxy 0-0 AmaZulu
Marumo Gallants 0-0 Stellenbosch

Hollywoodbets COSAFA & WCAFCL Qualifiers

Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies began their title defense with an 8-1 victory over Costa do Sol of Mozambique at the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium in Durban.
Sundowns Ladies showed their class and quality on the day as they went 5-0 up to the break.
Sundowns made wholesale substitutions to give other players minutes and the quality didn’t drop but continued and they scored more goals.
The Brazilians broke their own record [last season’s record which was 6-0] at these qualifiers.
The quality of Sundowns was unmatched on the day. Their WAFCON 2022 stars were back in the team and they showed their level was high above the Costa do Sol.
They return again on Tuesday afternoon to battle against Double Action of Botswana.

Green Buffaloes of Zambia hammered Young Buffaloes of Eswatini 4-0 in the second match of the day.
The Zambians dominated from start to finish. The experience of their sevens players whom were part of WAFCON 2022 in Morocco came into effect.
The Zambians will finish top of the group and qualify for the next round if they defeat Olympic de Moroni of Comoros.
The finalists of these games will represent COSAFA at the WCAFCL at a venue to hebe announced.

Hollywoodbets Super League

Match week 14 had a couple of interesting results. The defending Champions Sundowns take another break to defend another title, TUT took advantage of their absence and defeated Ma-Indies 3-0.
This was TUT’s 8th straight victory in the Super League, and are a side in rich form.
It was a weekend for away teams as JVW defeated UJ 3-2, Richmond won 1-0 at Thunderbirds, Royal AM Ladies defeated Coal City Wizards 1-0 in Mpumalanga province, and lastly, Durban Ladies won 2-1.
The away teams showed preparedness after the league took a break due to the WAFCON in Morocco.
Written by Pro Philani