THE ZIMBABWEAN pair at South African Premiership football side Mamelodi Sundowns Cuthbert Malajila and Khama Billiat has refused to give up on the title chase and believes their side still has a good chance to defend the crown they won last season.
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There was not much action in the past weekend for most Zimbos abroad with only a few playing for their clubs due to the international break.
But before they can think of defending their title, Downs have a small matter to deal with this weekend in the form of a Caf Champions League match away to TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sundowns have a 1-0 advantage going to Kinshasa on Saturday.
The Brazilians have been in great form since the turn of the New Year, losing just once in 11 matches in all competition.
Before the international break, they had chained five wins.
Billiat believes the break will not disturb the team’s momentum. “It would have been great for us to continue playing and maintain our form but I still think it (break) won’t disturb us.
“We know what we want and we will continue working hard and keeping fit to get ready for the resumption of the league,” Billiat said.
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On the league front, Sundowns are currently second on the table, eight points behind log leaders Kaizer Chiefs and many think the defending champions are hard pressed to catch up with the Glamour Boys.
However, Malajila, the league’s top goalscorer said they are not in any kind of pressure.
Malajila has scored 10 goals this far to lead the top goal scorers charts, a position he shares with Moeketsi Sekola of Free State Stars.
“Yes, we are the defending champions and we would like to defend our title, but that doesn’t put us under pressure,” Malajila said. “We have seven games to go before the end of the season and our focus is on the games we are going to play. We want maximum points from all those games and see what happens at the end of the season but there is no pressure. We know it won’t be easy, but we will just do our best without putting pressure on ourselves.”
Mamelodi Sundowns’ next fixture after the Kinshasa trip is against Tendai Ndoro’s Mpumalanga Black Aces on Wednesday next week.
Also in Africa this weekend is the Kaizer Chiefs crew of Willard Katsande, Matthew Rusike and Ovidy Karuru, who is finding the going tough at Amakhosi.
They have a tough away assignment away to Raja Casablanca of Morocco where they will be looking to overturn a 1-0 deficit.
The few Zimbos who were active for their foreign clubs over the international weekend include Tendai Darikwa who helped his English League One team Chesterfield to a 1-0 win over Walsall to move to position eighth on the 24 team standings.
Still in the English third division, Young Warriors’ Macauley Bonne was an unused substitute when his Colchester allowed Gillingham to score an injury time equaliser in the 2-2 draw to remain in the relegation zone.
