By Kgomotso Mokoena
Johannesburg – Mamelodi Sundowns caused one of the biggest upsets the beautiful game has seen when the curtain fell on the 2019/20 season.
They lifted the league trophy with only 20 minutes remaining and sending Kaizer Chiefs supporters into a state of devastation.
Chiefs supporters will never forgive former coach Ernst Middendorp who brought the pain upon the Amakhosi diehard supporters.
At some point in the race for the league title Chiefs, who led the table from day one, had opened up a wholesome 13-point gap at the top of the table while Sundowns were chasing the treble and preoccupied by their participation in the CAF Champions League.
Bobby Motaung was also not spared the criticism after videos of him partying and boogying went viral during a COVID- 19-enforced lockdown.
He was suspended for the whole month and sent on to self-isolate. As the race edged closer towards the finishing line, champions- elect Chiefs started to capitulate like drunk teenagers at a Matric Farewell after-party.
They started dropping points at an alarming rate and their last three matches were a disaster.
They lost a top-of-the-table clash against Sundowns 1-0 and failed to claim a draw that would have given them the league title in their 1-0 loss to the defunct Bidvest Wits.
In the dying minutes, their trusted striker Samir Nurkovic missed a sitter that would have salvaged a draw – which was going to be enough to see them lift their fifth league trophy in the PSL era.
The biggest trauma came in their final match of the season against Baroka FC.
Tied at the top with Sundowns on points, Chiefs just needed a win to be crowned champions because they enjoyed a much better goal difference – Sundowns would need to win by an avalanche of goals to overtake them.
Chiefs took the lead and all was hunky-dory until Baroka’s Mozambican man-mountain Manuel Kambala rose majestically and nodded home the equaliser in the 69th minute.
Chiefs were crestfallen, it was just unbelievable. Sundowns on the other hand were having a party, whipping Black Leopards 3-0.
As the news filtered to the Sundowns’ technical team that Chiefs were held to a draw, the trio of Pitso Mosimane, Manqoba Mngqithi and Rhulani Mokwena started celebrating on the touchlines.
As expected, it did not take long for Middendorp to get the boot.
While it ended in joy for the Brazilians, it did end in tears for Amakhosi.
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