BEYOND the ordinary football banter of referring to Orlando Pirates as bridesmaids to perennial domestic Premiership winners Mamelodi Sundowns, lies the harsh truth - the title race is over.

With an 18-point gap between log leaders Sundowns and the second placed Pirates, realists can go as far as saying the defending champions might as well be given now their eighth straight league title.

Patriots might as well join that Gautrain on the basis that that would free up the Fifa Club World Cup-bound Brazilians time to focus on big matters, matters of national importance like hoisting the Rainbow Nation’s flag on other lands.

This weekend could very well seal it for those who are resistant to reality; Pirates will host Sundowns in the return leg of the Premiership on a 3.30pm kickoff at FNB Stadium.

Those who love the banter would have been reminding Pirates all week of the 4-1 drubbing in the reverse fixture last month.

After all said and done though, reality still remains - win or lose for Pirates on Sunday, they lack consistency to chase down Sundowns even with their four games in hand.

On their website Sundowns are already flaunting Club World Cup fixtures which begin in June in the USA, which will be the first to feature 32 teams.

In their website Sundowns have their three pool fixtures against South Korea’s Ulsan HD on June 17, Germany’s Borussia Dortmund on June 21 and Brazil’s Fluminense on June 25.

The Brazilians' Brazilian Lucas Ribeiro will be looking forward to facing his countrymen in Fluminense colours.

Those matches will be played in Florida and Ohio, and Bafana ba Style takes it further by giving their site visitor some pointers to how they can go about purchasing tickets for those matches.

All that as if to rub it in the face of those who remain stubborn on the side of Pirates being still in the title race, or simply just to underline that they, Sundowns, have now to shift their focus on the bigger fish that lies ahead.

Apart from the groundbreaking Club World Cup, Sundowns have the Caf Champions League quarter-finals against Esperance de Tunis to sharpen up for, with the Nedbank Cup floating somewhere in the Jukskei River for them to keep site of as well.

In the Nedbank Cup they will face Sekhukhune United in the quarter-finals.

Esperance, they play upon return from the Fifa break on April 1 and 9 with Pirates facing FC Algiers in the same stage in the same period.

With regards to the Premiership, past and present numbers paint a clearer picture; Sundowns currently stand at 58 points whereas last season both chasers (Pirates and Stellenbosch) ended at 50 points.

However, Pirates look well set to go past that 50 points return this season as they stand at 13 wins which is way better compared to their lowly total of 14 from last season.

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Mamelodi Sundowns with a bigger fish to fry as Orlando Pirates remain optimistic