SOLO INJE! NEEDS NO RESURRECTION!

My dearest readers ... Following the hullabaloo of South Africa’s Alleluia Ministries Pastor, Alph Lukau, who claimed to have resurrected a ‘dead’ man last week and the past weekend’s shocking results in the EswatiniBank Cup, I could not help but conclude that the magical 16-year-old tournament does not need any resurrection.

Lukau and his ilk can go jump in their nearest pond!
The EswatiniBank Cup is still as magical as it was on the unforgettable Sunday of April 2, 2004 when dearly departed Francis ‘Mkhulu’ Banda’s Green Mamba massacred a listless Denver Sundowns 5-1 in the most one-sided Cup final in living memory.
From that salient moment, the EswatiniBank cup, sponsored to the tune of E500 000 then, carved a niche for itself as a tournament of shocks, drama, wondrous goals, abhorrent refereeing and thrills aplenty.

The past weekend’s results, in particular on Sunday, when two of the country’s big teams, Mbabane Highlanders and Manzini Wanderers bit the dust, is full testimony that the EswatiniBank Cup, in all its chequered 16-year glorious history, has not lost its romance. Not one bit. It is, by far, a true knockout tournament which reincarnates the romantic biblical storyline of the little Davids slaying the lardy Goliaths of local football.

Its excitement is the football equivalent of putting a sticker on a packet of peanuts saying: WARNING - may contain nuts!
 Not even the best sangoma in the business, even from this East African country or any of these mushrooming charlatan pastors doing despicable things in the name of the Lord, would have predicted that two of the country’s big teams, Wanderers and Highlanders, would not make it to the quarter-final stage.

The EswatiniBank Cup has not even reached its zenith but already it has thrilled the soul, left us gobsmacked and excited in equal measure.
When the draw was conducted last Monday, pitting Highlanders against Matsapha United and Wanderers against Sundowns, it looked like a foregone conclusion that the previous weekend league results would be repeated. It wasn’t to be – reminding all and sundry that in this game of the billions, nothing is guaranteed and there are no foregone conclusions.

horrendous

Highlanders may, rightly, point towards referee Letticia Viena’s horrendous blunder of not awarding a penalty after striker Thabiso Mokenkoane was hacked inside the box by Matsapha United defender, Thami Zulu but still they missed some few chances which could have swung the game to their favour. Twice Vusumuzi Zungu failed to connect with his head inviting crosses and Mokenkoane, who had been in a rich vein of scoring form, missed when normally he would have scored blindfolded in the first half.
Credit should go to Matsapha United’s defensive triumvirate of Thami Zulu, Baba Sediou Blandja and in particular, Mzwandile Mabelesa, who blocked a goal-bound Zungu shot as if taking a shot for the president. The decision by coach Samuel Chamunika to pull off captain Xolani ‘Chocco’ Sibandze baffled the mind but as Liverpool’s Manager, Jurgen Klopp quipped after the goalless draw with Everton on Sunday, this is not like PlayStation.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: