Now they need just one more win.
Barring an unlikely last-gasp collapse, Orlando Pirates will wrap up the Betway Premiership title over their last two matches.
Pirates’ magic number
Four is mathematically the number of points that the Buccaneers need against Durban City tomorrow and Orbit College the following Saturday to guarantee them beating Mamelodi Sundowns to the crown.
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But realistically three points is all Abdeslam Ouaddou’s side need, so superior is their goal difference to Sundowns’. It is a strange scenario, that Sundowns have finished all their league fixtures and Pirates have two left.
In an ideal world, with the title race this close, the last two fixtures of Sundowns and Pirates would have been played on the same day and at the same time.
Sundowns’ progress to the Caf Champions League final however, has made this impossible.
Miguel Cardoso’s side are, to a certain extent, victims of their own success.
The Tshwane giants are used to going far in continental competition – they reached the final last season. But the 2025/26 campaign has had the added complication of the Fifa Club World Cup.
The football, put simply, has not stopped and many of Sundowns’ players have every right to be exhausted. Bafana stars like Teboho Mokoena, Aubrey Modiba and Khuliso Mudau are going to have to play through that exhaustion, with the World Cup finals less than a month away.
So when Cardoso claims Sundowns have lost to the calendar – as he did after their defeat to TS Galaxy on Tuesday – one can understand where he is coming from.
Sundowns shouldn’t complain too much
Having said that, Sundowns have the resources to build a squad more powerful than any other in the country. And to harp on about fatigue is to take away from Orlando Pirates’ achievement – if it happens – in ending Masandawana’s Premiership dominance.
After winning eight Premiership titles in a row, it has reached a point where at the start of the season it is simply expected that Sundowns will win the crown again.
A relentlessness is required to even keep pace, and under Ouaddou’s wise hand, Pirates have found exactly that.
A nightmare opponent
Playing Pirates looks like a nightmare for the opposition. They press you and press you and have attacking threats from every angle.
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If Relebohile Mofokeng doesn’t get you, Oswin Appollis will. If Appollis doesn’t get you, Patrick Maswanganyi will. If Maswanganyi doesn’t get you, Kamogelo Sebelebele will. And so on, and so forth.
Combine this with a rock solid defence that has conceded just 12 goals in 28 matches and you have all the stuff that champions are made of. Now they need just one more win.
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