{"id":55555,"date":"2024-08-20T14:53:41","date_gmt":"2024-08-20T12:53:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=55555"},"modified":"2024-08-20T14:53:41","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T12:53:41","slug":"gdl-title-slipping-farther-from-mamelodi-sundowns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=55555","title":{"rendered":"GDL title slipping further from Mamelodi Sundowns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-tt=\"{&quot;paragraphStyle&quot;:{&quot;alignment&quot;:4,&quot;style&quot;:3}}\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-45256\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/chiefs-vs-sundowns-400x500.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"500\" \/>In IsiXhosa there&#8217;s an ancient precept, &#8216;Ungakhwazi ungekaphumi ehlathini&#8217;, which means it is unwise to celebrate prematurely. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-tt=\"{&quot;paragraphStyle&quot;:{&quot;alignment&quot;:4,&quot;style&quot;:3}}\">Perhaps this saying best describes the type of campaign that the <strong>Mamelodi Sundowns<\/strong> u19 team has had in the <strong>Gauteng Development League (GDL)<\/strong>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-tt=\"{&quot;paragraphStyle&quot;:{&quot;alignment&quot;:4,&quot;style&quot;:3}}\">The Tshwane-based unit&#8217;s fan base and its players might have celebrated a touch too early when they were sitting pretty at the top of the standings, unbeaten in 17 games and with only 16 matches left in the season. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-tt=\"{&quot;paragraphStyle&quot;:{&quot;alignment&quot;:4,&quot;style&quot;:3}}\">Four weeks later, Sundowns lie third after being leapfrogged by <strong>Kaizer Chiefs<\/strong> (1st place) and, more recently, by <strong>Highlands Park<\/strong> (2nd place). <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-tt=\"{&quot;paragraphStyle&quot;:{&quot;alignment&quot;:4,&quot;style&quot;:3}}\">However, that slide is not all their own doing. A run of postponed fixtures, including last week&#8217;s outing against <strong>Tuks<\/strong>, and a loss to <strong>Sevens Academy<\/strong>, when they last played, has led to a loss of momentum.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-tt=\"{&quot;paragraphStyle&quot;:{&quot;alignment&quot;:4,&quot;style&quot;:3}}\">While &#8216;Downs have slipped down the standings, Highlands Park, slowly but surely, have climbed the ladder. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-tt=\"{&quot;paragraphStyle&quot;:{&quot;alignment&quot;:4,&quot;style&quot;:3}}\">The &#8220;<strong>Lions of the North<\/strong>&#8221; have had a season whose story has been similar to that of Sundowns, except it has happened in reverse. They had a slow and poor start to their campaign but are now peaking at the right time, at the business end of the competition. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-tt=\"{&quot;paragraphStyle&quot;:{&quot;alignment&quot;:4,&quot;style&quot;:3}}\">On the weekend, Highlands Park beat Kaizer Chiefs 3-2 away from home to move into second place on the log, only three points behind the <strong>Amakhosi<\/strong> and with two games in hand. They&#8217;re now well positioned to successfully defend the title <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/highlands-park-fc-crowned-champions-of-the-gauteng-development-league\/\">they won so impressively in 2023<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-tt=\"{&quot;paragraphStyle&quot;:{&quot;alignment&quot;:4,&quot;style&quot;:3}}\">In other fixtures, <\/span><span data-tt=\"{&quot;paragraphStyle&quot;:{&quot;alignment&quot;:4,&quot;style&quot;:3}}\"><strong>Kathorus Hyper Academy<\/strong> and <strong>Panorama FC<\/strong> had to settle for goalless draws against <strong>Wits Junior<\/strong> and <strong>SuperSport United<\/strong>, respectively. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-tt=\"{&quot;paragraphStyle&quot;:{&quot;alignment&quot;:4,&quot;style&quot;:3}}\"><strong>Rosina Sedibane Modiba Sports School<\/strong> beat <strong>East Rand Athletic Club<\/strong> 2-1, <strong>Jomo Cosmos<\/strong> scored a 1-0 win over <strong>Joburg City<\/strong>, and <strong>Randburg AFC<\/strong> and <strong>Sevens Academy<\/strong> tied 2-2. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-tt=\"{}\">Rosina Sedibane Modiba Sports School 2-1 East Rand Athletic Club<br \/>\n<\/span><span data-tt=\"{}\">Kaizer Chiefs 2-3 Highlands Park<br \/>\n<\/span><span data-tt=\"{}\">Randburg AFC 2-2 Sevens Academy<br \/>\n<\/span><span data-tt=\"{}\">Mamelodi Sundowns vs Tuks postponed<br \/>\n<\/span><span data-tt=\"{}\">Kathorus Hyper Academy 0-0 Wits Junior<br \/>\n<\/span><span data-tt=\"{}\">Panorama 0-0 SuperSport United<br \/>\n<\/span><span data-tt=\"{}\">Jomo Cosmos 1-0 Joburg City<br \/>\n<\/span>Remember Elite Sports Academy vs School of Excellence postponed<br \/>\n<span data-tt=\"{}\">NWU Vaal vs TS Galaxy (Not processed as NWU Vaal failed to produce medics and an ambulance)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In IsiXhosa there&#8217;s an ancient precept, &#8216;Ungakhwazi ungekaphumi ehlathini&#8217;, which means it is unwise to celebrate prematurely. Perhaps this saying best describes the type of campaign that the Mamelodi Sundowns u19 team has had in the Gauteng Development League (GDL). The Tshwane-based unit&#8217;s fan base and its players might have celebrated a touch too early [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":45256,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55555\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}