Winners And Losers From The Weekend Action

Red cards, comeback wins, late goals, and a chairman in action were the highlights of the opening weekend of the 29th PSL season. Kaizer Chiefs (against Marumo Gallants) and Polokwane City (against AmaZulu) were the biggest winners on Matchday One, both coming from a goal down to win their respective games. Richards Bay held off TS Galaxy elsewhere, while Cape Town City dropped points against Royal AM once again on Saturday. Winners & Losers is a weekly recap of the weekend in stats.

Winners

Kaizer Chiefs

An opening-day win for the first time since 2019, and only the second time since their last title win 10 seasons ago. This result will be a welcome relief for a Chiefs fanbase whose excitement has been building throughout the off-season. However, they didn’t have it easy. The last time Chiefs came from a goal down to win a league game was in September 2023 against Sekhukhune, but it had been even longer since they managed this feat away from home.

2 – This was the first time since October 2022 that Chiefs conceded first in an away league game and went on to win.

Nasreddine Nabi

The Tunisian coach may have been given a briefing on how his predecessors fared in their first games. Of the five permanent coaches who made their “debut” at Chiefs after Stuart Baxter, none managed to win their first game. Molefi Ntseki drew, Arthur Zwane lost, Gavin Hunt lost, Giovanni Solinas lost, and Steve Komphela drew.

1 – Nasreddine Nabi is the first Kaizer Chiefs coach to win his first league game since Stuart Baxter in 2012 (excluding caretakers).

Chiefs went on to be champions that season.

Nabi’s Faith In Youngsters Repaid

“The normal squad is composed of a maximum of 22 players. I push for this number, but it’s not easy,” Nabi said to FarPost a week ago.

The Tunisian coach has been adamant about maintaining a compact squad this season. On one hand, this means each player will receive more of his attention, and on the other, it creates more opportunities for younger players to shine. More than half of Saturday’s Starting XI were 24 years old or younger. The last time a Chiefs Matchday 1 squad had more than five players under 24 was in 2008. At an average age of 25.6, this was Kaizer Chiefs’ youngest Starting XI on the opening day since 2010 under Vladimir Vermezovic (25.2). The youngsters repaid the faith.

2 – Mfundo Vilakazi and Mdu Shabalala became only the second pair of Chiefs players, aged 21 or younger, to score in the same league game in PSL history (the first being Collins Mbesuma & Junior Khanye on March 6, 2004).

Polokwane City

The ongoing rumors around Oswin Appolis’ potential transfer continue, and Polokwane City can hardly afford such distractions at the start of the season. He wasn’t selected for this game, with his international commitments cited as the reason. Trailing 1-0 just before half-time, Appolis’ absence seemed like it might define the game. Instead, a comeback win on the opening day became the headline.

2020 – This is the first time Polokwane have come back from a goal down to win a league game since March 2020, against Black Leopards.

Brandon Truter

While his counterpart on the day has enjoyed nearly three years at the same club (the 3rd longest stint of any current coach), Brandon Truter has been more of a journeyman in recent years. TS Galaxy has often been a stumbling block for him. Neither Swallows, AmaZulu, nor Sekhukhune could help him break his winless streak against TS Galaxy—until this weekend.

1 – This was Truter’s first-ever win against TS Galaxy, coming in his eighth attempt (P7 W0 D4 L3 previously).

Losers

Cape Town City

With four games played this season and only one win, Cape Town City risks falling into a similar winless slump as they did at the start of last season. A run of six winless games at this stage last year left them playing catch-up with the rest of the league. Eric Tinkler will be disappointed by how his team failed to capitalize on an early 1-0 lead, a recurring issue.

¼ – In the four league games where City have led at half-time this year, they’ve won only one.

AmaZulu

Fifteen games in 2024 have yielded just 14 points. Of the teams that have been in the top-flight in both the 2023/24 and 2024/25 seasons, none have earned fewer points than Usuthu.

PSL Uncertainty

It’s been seven weeks since the league’s new sponsor was confirmed. While the delay to the season’s start was understandable, the continued uncertainty around prize money and trophies is more concerning. For teams navigating the final days of the transfer window, it must be challenging to determine how much to invest without clarity on the rewards.

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