YOU SEE the Betway Premiership league rivalry between Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns may reach the final games of the season, according to Richards Bay FC coach, Papi Zothwane.
Pirates returned to the top of the log where they tied with Sundowns with 47 points after 20 games for each team.
There are ten games left for these teams in the competition for the league title before the 2025/26 season ends.
Pirates will have an opportunity to open the gap as they will face Siwelele FC at Amstel Arena, Saturday at 3.30 pm.
Sundowns are still standing in the local league this weekend as they played the first leg of the Caf Champions League quarterfinal against Mali’s Stade Malien at Loftus Versefeld, Pretoria, on Friday night, winning 3-0.
“It is difficult to predict the league rivalry between Pirates and Sundowns because any team that is going to play one of these two will play with determination. Both these teams have quality players and they are winning their (league) games and it looks like they will continue to do the same. “In my opinion, it may be clear in the last games of the season which of these teams can end up being champions of the Premiership,” said Zothwane.
Zothwane is talking like this, in the past few weeks, different coaches including Manqoba Mngqithi and Eric Tinkler have eliminated Pirates from the league competition and given it to Sundowns.
Bay, which is in tenth place in the Premiership log, will play against MaZulu FC in the Premiership on Saturday at 6 pm, at Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban.
“The important thing is that we encourage our players to take the good things they did in our game with the Pirates and use them in our next games, and then we avoid the mistakes we make. These boys gave the Pirates a tough game, so this should be a motivation for them as they will play against MaZulu. Right now the most important thing for us is that we fight to get into the Top 8, not to retreat to the relegation zone,” continued Zothwane.