Mamelodi Sundowns won their seventh successive PSL league title in style after hammering Kaizer Chiefs 5-1 at the FNB Stadium on Thursday night.
It was Sundowns’ 14th league title since the inception of the PSL in the 1996–97 season.
Sundowns lifted the DStv Premiership trophy with six matches left on their schedule. The cherry on top is that Sundowns have not lost a single match this season.
They have acquired 62 points, and second-placed Stellenbosch FC can only get to 61 if they win their four remaining league games. Stellies are sitting on 49 points.
The Sundowns players and technical team celebrated with their legions of supporters, who arrived in large numbers to cheer their team on.
They could not have been given better opponents to seal their title – against rivals Chiefs, who are blowing hot and cold in the league. At the end, it looked very easy for the all-conquering Masandawana.
As expected, the tension in the opening stages was so thick you could cut it with a knife. By the 24th minute, there were a total of three yellow cards and a red card dished out by the referee, Abongile Tom.
Tom was like Santa Clause; he was in a giving mood and started with Neo Maema, who hacked Edson Castillo in the eighth minute.
Four minutes later, Zitha Kwinike got his turn following a late challenge on the Argentinian Matias Esquivel.
In the 18th minute, there was controversy when Chiefs’ Given Msimango was given a straight red card for ‘deliberating blocking a scoring opportunity’ when he fouled Lucas Ribeiro, who was enroute to goals.
The Chiefs’ protests against the red card fell on deaf ears. Sundowns got another caution when Zuko Mdunyelwa tripped a Chiefs player inside the centre circle.
Sundowns opened the floodgates in the 51st minute when Tashreeq Matthews tapped the ball into the net after a delicious pass from Ribeiro.
Esquivel made it 2-0 after dribbling past a tribe of Chiefs defenders. With nine minutes remaining, Matthews grabbed his brace when he made it 3-0 after slicing the ball into the net. Mduduzi Shabalala pulled one back for the deflated Amakhosi.
Ribeiro and Thembinkosi Lorch finished the routing with goal numbers four and five, respectively.
Sundowns still have another trophy to play for. They will face Stellies in the semi-finals of the Nedbank Cup in Cape Town on Sunday.
