Friday will see the latest instalment of the fierce rivalry between Tshwane duo Mamelodi Sundowns and SuperSport United, the second meeting in six days between the two sides.

It is the continuation of a 32-year battle on the pitch that, while behind the Soweto derby, is perhaps the second fiercest rivalry in the land and, in the eyes of many, has been the most entertaining down the years, usually packed with goals.

In more recent times there has been much player movement between the two sides, which has accelerated in the last few years.

Going back further you can look to the purchase of SuperSport’s star forward Jeremy Brockie by Sundowns in 2018, though it proved an ill-fated transfer where he was not able to rediscover his form at Chloorkop.

In the last few years, Sundowns have snatched five key players from their crosstown rivals – left-sided utility player Aubrey Modiba, defender Grant Kekana, midfielders Teboho Mokoena and Sipho Mbule, and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.

That has ripped the heart out of the spine of the Matsatsantsa side, but they have grabbed three players to go the other way on loan – goalkeeper Ricardo Goss, midfielder Grant Margeman and forward Thabang Sibanyoni. They, however, will not be available to play against their parent club.

The first clash between the two sides was in 1990 before sports broadcaster SuperSport had purchased the franchise of Pretoria City and rebranded the club. The league meeting ended 1-0 in Sundowns’ favour as Zane Moosa scored the only goal.

Sundowns’ biggest victory over SuperSport was a 5-1 success in the 1993 season when Daniel Mudau incredibly scored all five goals for The Brazilians as he spent a decade terrorising their city rivals.

Mudau has the most goals for Sundowns in this fixture with 14 as he regularly punished SuperSport, including those five goals 29 years ago. The next highest on the list are Bennett Masinga and current star Themba Zwane, who both have six.

Zwane scored his first goal against SuperSport in the 2014-15 season and has netted at least once in five of the last eight campaigns. He clearly loves facing Matsatsantsa.

Richard Peer and the late Abram Raselemane have the most goals for SuperSport in matches between these two sides, each with four. Mokoena was on three before he switched sides to join The Brazilians.

SuperSport’s greatest ever scorer, Bradley Grobler, has never netted for the club against Sundowns, which seems incredible given his potency against Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates and his total of 66 goals against all opponents.

SuperSport’s biggest win was also by a four-goal margin as they claimed a 4-0 success in the 1998-99 campaign. Ironically, Sundowns finished champions that year.

There have been 79 clashes between the sides in all competitions over the years. Sixty-two of those have come in the league and 17 in cup competitions.

Sundowns have won 43 games in all competitions, more than double the 20 managed by SuperSport. Twenty-one of those wins for The Brazilians have come at home and 22 away.

Sundowns have scored 119 goals in meetings in all competitions. That is considerably more than SuperSport’s 80. The Brazilians have netted 95 of those in the league and a thumping win could see them bring up their century on Friday.

SuperSport have found home wins hard to come by against Sundowns with only seven in the 37 games played. That is compared to 13 away victories. They have also lost more at home compared to away (22 v 21) and scored fewer goals (34 v 46). For whatever reason, they have more joy on the road against their rivals.

There have only ever been 16 draws out of the 79 previous games, around one in five contests, which is quite low in the South African context.

There have been four hat-tricks in this fixture over the years. Mudau (1993) with his five goals, Bennet Masinga (1994) scored three for Sundowns the following year, Tico-Tico (2005) got a treble in an ABSA Cup quarterfinal win for SuperSport and Anthony Laffor netted three as Matsatsantsa secured a 4-1 league win in 2009.

Mzansi Football