Winners & Losers: MTN8 Opening Weekend

There were goals galore, debut strikes, five-goal thrillers, comeback wins and extra time drama. In the end, 16 goals were scored in the quarter-finals, a new record for a Top8 tournament in the PSL era. Winners & Losers is a statistical review of the action.

Winners

Bradley Grobler

37 years old, 19 PSL seasons and still going strong. Bradley Grobler marked his debut for Sekhukhune United with a brace that ignited a win from 2-0 down. If the PSL had a hall-of-fame, Grobler would be one of its first names.

119 – Grobler has now scored 119 goals in his PSL career, with only Shalulile (128) and Nomvethe (129) scoring more.

Oswin Appollis

Some still harbour doubt whether a move to a bigger club may be too much for a player that shone at a Top8 level side in Polokwane City. A goal on debut and a Man of the Match award may be the perfect antidote to those worries, suggesting Appollis is ready.

1 – This was Appollis’ first club goal since January.

Abdeslam Ouaddou

Abdeslam Ouaddou’s predecessor won five trophies in his time at the club, the joint-most titles by a Pirates coach in history (over 50 years of recorded history). Ouadou still has an immense task on his hands to fill those shoes, starting with going past Sundowns into the final.

Iqraam Rayners

In the absence of Peter Shalulile and Lucas Ribeiro, Sundowns still romped to a 4-0 win, the club’s biggest ever winning margin in a Top8 game. It was a reminder to all and sundry that there is depth beyond the usual shining stars, led by one of the sharpest finishers in the game in Iqraam Rayners.

25 – Rayners has now scored 25 goals in Cup competitions in his PSL career, going level with Khama Billiat and Raphael Chukwu.

Sanele Barns

There was cause for concern in Barns’ quality last season, when he managed just 4 goals in over 2500 minutes last season. Hence it is only fair to laud him when he halves that total in just 70 minutes this season.

Sekhukhune United showing character

Sekhukhune were promoted to the top-flight in 2021, and had never won a game when they were losing by 2-0 or more. This was historic first for Eric Tinkler’s side, and a reminder of his tactical nous in Cups.

1 -0 This is the first time Sekhukhune have reached the semi-finals of the competition, coming in their third attempt.

Losers

TS Galaxy

Having scored the second goal in the 41st minute, all they had to do was hold out for half-time and leave their hosts with a mountain to climb in the second half. Instead, they let their guard down and conceded after 60 seconds, the start of a collapse.

1 – This was the first time since their top-flight promotion in 2020 that Galaxy have lost a game in any competition when leading 2-0.

AmaZulu

It was actually a decent performance on Sunday afternoon, and yet still AmaZulu lost. It was clear that Zwane’s side were happy to sit back, absorb pressure and on fast breaks. They did this perfectly on numerous occasions, but failed to take their chances, including a glorious late chance in regulation time.

PSL pitches

The quarter-finals were marred by poor pitch conditions, with three of the four surfaces looking neglected. Saturday’s pitch was especially dire, and with league action resuming this weekend, better playing surfaces are desperately needed.