The dearth of goals in the Betway Premiership should be a great cause for concern but the PSL hierarchy has not addressed the situation. In the past eight seasons, the leading goal scorer has not hit the 20-goal mark at the end of the season.
This lack of goals detracts from the appeal of the game, but because club owners are running the league instead of employing professional administrators, they are not alerted to attend to matters of this nature.
A few coaches are complaining about playing surfaces for PSL games.
The surfaces may look good but playing surfaces at several stadiums are prepared for rugby matches and passing becomes a hazardous occupation.
Several spectators at Cape Town Stadium saw how players battled to make passing good in the CT City versus Kaizer Chiefs game.
The lack of goals is just one of the weekend takeaways of Mzansi football.
1 Dearth of goals in the Betway Premiership
Over the weekend there were five Betway Premiership matches and three were completed goalless. In the remaining two games, three of the four sides managed one goal each.
In essence, seven teams failed to score in their matches. A look back at other recent matches shows a similar pattern and that should be a source of concern for the PSL.
The only concern the PSL hierarchy has is finding sponsorship for the league and cup competitions.
The lack of goals detracts from the game's appeal and that's why crowd attendances are far from what it should be.
2 The need to master the art of goal-scoring
There has been a glaring lack of goals in the PSL but strangely teams have created a plethora of scoring opportunities.
Sunday's game between Polokwane City and Sekhukhune United at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium is a case in point.
The match ended with a one-all stalemate even though the teams collectively fashioned 24 goalscoring opportunities.
The statistics of other weekend matches including those which ended goalless are similar.
3 Turkish delight as Ertuğral sends his former team Chiefs packing.
Muhsin Ertuğral, born in Turkey but raised in Germany, triumphantly returned to the dug-out after a six-year absence.
He was recently appointed to replace Eric Tinkler as the coach of embattled Cape Town City. His last appearance in a PSL dugout was with Maritzburg United in 2019.
It wasn't an easy assignment since Tunisian Nasreddine Nabi has been tasked with making Kaizer Chiefs a force in local football again.
Ertuğral's game plan worked wonders because Chiefs dominated but did not emerge winners. Instead, City worked one transition play to perfection and that was the end of Chiefs, who are now in seventh place on the log, and 15 points adrift of leaders Mamelodi Sundowns.
4 Pirates in the Champions League Group C driving seat
After four rounds in the CAF Champions League, undefeated Orlando Pirates are heading Group C standings, rather surprisingly because the group includes 11-time record African champions Al Ahly.
Pirates seem to be managing squad rotation very well and apart from setting the pace in the Champions League group phase, they are keeping the pressure on Premiership log-leaders Sundowns.
On Saturday evening, Pirates humbled Ivory Coast heavy hitters Stade d’Abidjan 3-0 with an attractive performance.
Full marks to Riveiro who knows the need for holistic coaching to nurture and unleash the potential of younger players at the highest level, as he said:
“We finished on the field with five of our DDC (DStv Diski Challenge) players and they are accumulating this experience.”
5 Nomads Stellenbosch win home games on the road
Stellenbosch FC have bravely accepted their nomadic existence which has seen them more often than not play at homes away from home.
On Sunday, the Winelands side played their CAF Confederation Cup home game against Angola's Desportivo Lunda-Sul some 1 500kms away in Tshwane at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
This season, the 'Maroons' at Athlone Stadium, Moses Mabhida Stadium, Cape Town Stadium and Loftus.
Their home ground, the Danie Craven is not up to standard for CAF games and on other occasions when they needed to host Premiership matches, rugby had the first call.
The players and coach Steve Barker are missing the home crowd support terribly at their matches outside Stellenbosch. Despite losing home-ground advantage, they're keeping their quarter-final dreams alive, showing grit and determination on the continental stage.