Baxter concedes title loss

It will be a disaster for Mamelodi Sundowns if they do not win the Premier League title, Kaizer Chiefs coach Stuart Baxter said after his team’s 1-1 draw with Free State Stars on Wednesday. But for most pundits – and that included the shocked army of Amakhosi supporters at the Peter Mokaba Stadium – the disaster at hand was firmly in Chiefs’ court as their declining hopes of retaining the PSL championship appeared in tatters.

Chiefs now find themselves trailing log leaders Mamelodi Sundowns by four points with two fixtures remaining.
If Sundowns beat SuperSport United in the Pretoria derby next Tuesday, the championship race will be abruptly over, with the team known as the Brazilians ending a seven-year Premier League title drought.

Baxter’s pained declaration of a possible Sundowns disaster seemed no more than the desperate gasp for air from a drowning man.
“Certainly the draw against Stars has come as a bitter blow,” said the Chiefs’ coach.

“We believed before the game that we were still in the title race with a fighting chance and we had the game won until the dying minutes.

“A victory in Polokwane would have meant we would have been placed only two points behind Sundowns in the title race.
“That would have been a challenging position and left us with realistic hope and optimism. We are not giving up now because stranger things have happened in soccer and we’ll do whatever we can.”

If Sundowns win either of their last two matches against SuperSport or Maritzburg United, they will win the league, no matter how Chiefs fare against Tuks and AmaZulu.

The draw against Stars marked the continuation of what has been a striking fall from grace of the Soweto glamour side, who a month ago appeared to have a second successive championship in their grasp with a clear-cut six point advantage in the title race.
Chiefs’ humbling decline has been heightened by successive defeats and the elimination from both Caf’s Champions League and Confederation Cup in April, after proclaiming high hopes of making an impact in African soccer this year.- Supersport.