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THE TEAM OF THE DECADE!

02/01/2020 00:04:00 BY LWAZI DLAMINI

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Sports Editor

Now that you have finished devouring meals that can feed a hungry nation; replaced your bloodstream with litres and litres of the amber-coloured inelastic fluids, welcome back to reality.

The New Year, 2020 marks the end of the decade, which has given us as the country’s leading newspaper – by a long mile - an opportunity to look back at the players who have kept us on the edges of our seats over the 10 year period while their teams took turns in climbing up to the podium to lift silverware. No doubt, the ‘Swallows of Mbabane’ under the stewardship of their slain chairman, Victor ‘Maradona’ Gamedze, gunned down by a bumbling fool on January 14, 2018 at exactly 6:53pm, have been the most dominant side in the last decade.

A boutique of 15 trophies (four league titles, two EswatiniBank Cup trophies, three Castle Premier Challenge Cups, three EswatiniTelecom Charity Cups and three successive Ingwenyama Cups) is full testimony of their remarkable dominance.

This unprecedented supremacy was further underpinned by a rare-as-a-hen’s tooth marathon 51 league game unbeaten run – over two seasons - which began in the 2016-17 season right through to September 30, 2018 when Green Mamba brought it to a juddering halt in a 2-0 victory, ending the red and white glamour side’s 4 607 minutes of football without league defeat. In between, the ‘Beautiful Birds’ became the first team to reach the group stages of both CAF Inter-club competitions, the CAF Confederation Cup and the CAF Champions League in successive years.

Who can forget that ‘moment of the decade’ on the memorable Sunday of April 9, 2017 at Somhlolo National Stadium, in the greatest comeback against Congo’s AC Leopard, jersey number 11, Banele ‘Pupu’ Sikhondze scoring the winning goal in 4-2 victory that prompted tears of joy to flow like River Nile on the face of club boss Victor ‘Maradona’ Gamedze?

Football, indeed is an emotional game, it gets even multi-millionaires to cry like an abandoned baby! Police side, Royal Leopard come a distant second with eight trophies followed by the two other security forces teams, Young Buffaloes and Green Mamba on four trophies. Once the aristocrats of Eswatini football, Mbabane Highlanders have won three trophies with Denver Sundowns on two trophies and the Moneni Buccaneers on a single trophy – the 2015 EswatiniBank Cup. It goes without saying that the ‘Swallows of Mbabane’ players dominate our TEAM OF THE DECADE with eight players who also over the same period made the starting line-up of the senior national team Sihlangu during its heady days too. Enjoy your reading...

SANDILE ‘NKOMISHI’ GININDZA:
The former Manzini Wanderers shot-stopper, whether you like it or not, was the safest pair of hands in between the sticks in Swallows dominant period, conceding only 14 goals when Swallows last clinched the league championship with a massive 60 points at the end of the 2017-18 season. 13 clean sheets in that mesmerising season simply told his unmatched agility in between the poles.

LINDO MKHONTA
Minus the overzealousness and robust nature, the Young Buffaloes player is an astute defender armed with determination and tigerishly biting tackles. He has been one of the ever-present in a swashbuckling army side that looks to take over the reins of dominant local football from Swallows.

SANELE MKHWELI
In a Swallows side that attacked with wing backs, Sifiso Mabila on the right, Mkhweli on the left, he was ever-present, ever-reliable and added another dimension to the ‘Birds’ attacking impetus with his well-weighted crosses which enabled the likes of Sabelo ‘Sikhali’ Ndzinisa and Sandile Hlatshwako to bag a handful of goals.

MENZI ‘MAGAWUGAWU’ SIMELANE
If you looking for loyalty then they don’t come any better than the Moneni Buccaneers skipper. He has spent the last decade captaining the Bucs ship with aplomb, even scoring some crucial goals. He becomes too playful at times, costing the club on two or more occasions but he leads by example with 100% commitment to the Buccaneers of Moneni’s cause. His heart is tattooed in the cross bones and skull of the Moneni Buccaneers.

MANDLA PALMA
It came as no surprise when he became the second player after Mxolisi ‘Stopper’ Mthethwa to be voted into the CAF team of the month during Swallows exploits in the CAF Champions League in 2017. Strong as an ox, ‘Umshana’ was the rock of Gilbrata in the ‘Birds’ rear-guard in the past decade.

NJABULO ‘D4D’ NDLOVU
Like the Toyota ‘van model he is nicknamed after, Ndlovu’s durability proved to be key in the Swallows’ engine room, where games are won or lost. He ate the whole pitch like a Pac-man and would chip in with a goal or two on his day when the need arose.

WONDER ‘SAMBA JIVE’ NHLEKO
Very few players can play wing play with the same dexterity of an Amazon reptile than ‘Samba Jive’. He runs as if he eats air and his trickery remains his greatest weapon inspite of his advancing years. He has been a revelation in the last decade. A sprinter in a soccer jersey indeed!

ZWELI ‘MLILO’ NXUMALO
In the years of Leopard’s dominance – between 2013 and 2016 – you could not ignore the contribution of the lavishly talented son of a Moneni Pirates legend, Kina ‘Ntozakhe’ Nxumalo. Free kicks, long range shots, tap-ins, curling shots, ‘Mlilo’ burnt many opposition teams with his eye for goal. His slalom runs, close ball control and bags of soccer tricks made him such a joy to watch.

SABELO ‘SIKHALI’ NDZINISA
He scored goals for fun. Nicknamed ‘Sikhali’, he was as razor-sharp as a samurai sword. Two consecutive times leading top goalscorer, the Ntshanini-born striker scored 14 goals wearing jersey number 14 in his first season at Swallows. Some of his booming shots made goalkeepers faintly ill.

FELIX ‘FELA’ BADENHORST
A natural number 10 if there was ever one in the last decade. ‘Fela’ is a master in playing between the lines; he pops up almost unnoticed in the opposition danger area with a clinical finish. Supremely gifted, he scores with both feet and can also head the ball with enough power to lighten up the Somhlolo National Stadium for days on end. A man for the big stage, Badenhorst is a match winner par excellence.

TONY ‘TT’ TSABEDZE
What is there to say about the son of the late Mhlambanyatsi Rovers legend, Zuluway that has not been said in his glorious soccer career? The epicentre of everything about Swallows’ dominance; captain marvel; extreme professional and down-to-earth, ‘TT’ would not hurt a fly even if it sat on his flat nose which must have inspired the invention of bicycle chairs. Scorer of a glut of classy goals, massive assists, soccer commentators run out of adjectives in describing this son of the soul.

On the wrong side of 30 years, he still outshines and dishes out classy performances which far belies his age. A rare gem in Eswatini football whose name will be written with iron ink in the Swallows Hall of Fame. Each time I see him walk onto the podium to lift another trophy the immortal words of his dearly departed chairman, Victor Gamedze ring true; “Mkhulu, tell me ngubani captain laveni who has taken more pictures with the King aphakamisa inkomishi? Just tell me one mkhulu. Kute mkhulu, ngu-Tony kuphela I am telling you,”
He is captain marvel without compare! No doubt, the ‘PLAYER OF THE DECADE’! Take a bow ‘TT’!