MTN8 drama promises exciting season ahead

The weekend MTN 8 results must have left many punters, especially the rookies who are still finding their feet in the world of sport betting, scratching their heads in frustration but other more experienced punters strolled all the way to the bank smiling.

Few could have expected Swallows FC to eliminate Orlando Pirates in a game played at Orlando Stadium for that matter. Take nothing away from Swallows and with due respect to the Dube Birds, but Pirates must have been a “banker” to most punters tipping them to dispatch Swallows.

But although football by its very nature is unpredictable with followers or punters in this regard, expecting a loss, a win or even a draw, such has been the shock of Pirates getting bundled out of the prestigious season opening domestic competition that German coach Josef Zinnbauer handed in his resignation on Monday morning.

And much as Mamelodi Sundowns are the league defending champions, the fact that they have failed to win this particular competition close on two decades now despite their total domination of local football, encouraged most punters to overwhelmingly tip Kaizer Chiefs to get the better of the “Brazilians.”

The game dished out enough drama to have given some of Hollywood’s prolific scriptwriters the best material to produce a thriller, with veteran 38-year old Sundowns goalkeeper Kennedy Mweene emerging a hero as he saved four of the five Chiefs penalty kicks and for good measure, slotted one of the kicks past Itumeleng Khune.

The debate is still raging as to whether Mweene moved off his line before acrobatically saving all four penalties or whether referee Victor Gomes was correct in ruling out Lyle Lackay’s penalty which Khune partially saved, but it rolled over the goal line but he disallowed the effort.

Which brings me to another aspect of sport betting, while most punters usually bet on predicting the outcome of a match, be it a single bet or multiple bets, sport betting has expanded so phenomenally that there are now a couple of sport betting markets that allow punters to wager on how many yellow cards would be issued in a match.

Punters are also given the opportunity to also predict how many corner kicks would be conceded by a particular side or even whether red cards would be dished out during the match.

In fact, such has the sport betting world expanded that one is also given an opportunity to predict who would score the first goal of the match, who could score the quickest goal, who could get sent off in addition to how many goals could be scored during a match.

With the DStv Premiership getting in full swing on Friday, I would be giving out tips regarding the outcome of matches throughout the season as well as who I think would win the domestic league championship, who would be the most outstanding player at the end of the year, defender of the Year and even goalkeeper of the year and also who might win the golden boot award at the end of the season.