Lucas Ribeiro Costa looks set to claim golden boot award

As Mamelodi Sundowns continue to set the benchmark in South African football with yet another dominant display in the Betway Premiership, outside their hitmen, the rest of the South African strike force continue their struggles in front of goal.

Lucas Ribeiro Costa has been the most impressive attacker this season and his eye for the target with flawless precision has all but made him set to claim the golden boot award from Orlando Pirates’ Tshegofatso Mabasa with still nine matches left to play.

The Brazilian-born midfielder has been at the center of Sundowns’ dominance this season with 13 crucial goals that have seen his side take all challengers to the cleaners to have a 16-point gap at the top of the Betway Premiership over their Bucaneers rivals.

Ribeiro’s teammate, Iqraam Rayners, is the only striker that has a realistic chance of catching the 26-year-old midfielder, as he currently stands on nine league goals and outside the former Stellenbosch striker, a couple of other players, including Devin Titus and Chippa United’s Sinoxolo Kwayiba, have helped themselves to six goals each in a season that has seen particularly South African forwards shoot a lot of blanks.

For the past two seasons, the award has been claimed by two South African-born players, with Mabasa’s 16 goals last season enough to replace the now Algerian-based Khanyisa Mayo’s 12 goal triumph in the 2022/23 season with Cape Town City.

The foundation has remained the same, but the walls have shifted slightly as this season has not been straight-forward for the Bucaneers striker, and he has only managed to hit the back of the net on five occasions with tough competition from Bafana Bafana striker Evidence Makgopa disrupting his consistent game time in Pirates colors.

And while their respective teams continue their tussle to be crowned the kings of South African football, Ribeiro is only three goals short of reaching Mabasa’s 16 goals tally from last season, and looking at the current run of form Sundowns and the ease with which they create chances, it is a record he should easily surpass, should he stay fit.

Coming from a country blessed with abundance of talent, Ribeiro managed to fit right in with the Brazilian side that are the masters of the shoe shine and piano and he has been a standout performer for the last two seasons. His impact in this current season has been felt just a little more due to his all-round game and his ability to get his teammates to play around him.

His consistency and clinical displays have opened the door for calls for Hugo Broos to explore the possibility of adding him to the national set-up when he qualifies for citizenship to bolster a Bafana side that is very much on the rise but sometimes misses just a bit of quality the forward can bring.

It is that quality that has also seen him lead the way as the contender for the player of the season with as many games to go.

And through the challenge posed by the Sea Robbers and the bit of excitement they have added into this year's campaign, the benchmark set by the Pretoria giants could just be out of reach, and they deserve all the personal and team accolades they are on track to receive at the end of the season.