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Morning breeze for ‘Birds’ players

09/08/2013 01:49:00 BY DUMISANI NTIWANE

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(At Prince of Wales Ground)

MBABANE – By 9am yesterday babane Swallows players were sweating it out at the Prince of Wales Ground and the axiom the ‘early bird catches the worm’ seemed to be the driving force.

The morning breeze seemed to spur them on. The glamour giants take on army side Young Buffaloes in the second semi final of the Swazi Telecom Charity Cup Spectacular on Sunday at Somhlolo National Stadium. Kickoff is 11:30am.

As is the norm nowadays, the team’s training could be deceptive to the untrained eye. The players always appear to be relaxed yet tend to explode in a game situation. Just like yesterday morning, they seemed to take it easy but after careful scrutiny, one could not miss the hunger and zeal to do well.

The training: The players seemed to be more than just delighted when team head coach, Nyanga ‘Crooks’ Hlophe and his assistant Siyabonga Bhembe gave them balls.

This was shortly after their warm-up session, which included jogging around the Prince of Wales pitch coupled with short sprints. The warm-up lasted for about 15 minutes before Hlophe and Bhembe lightened up the mood by indicating that the players would be doing ball work.
It was almost too good to be true and all the players readily took to the instruction obviously thrilled at being accorded the chance to train with a ball.

At the Mbabane giants, preseason is always loaded with physical exercises. This one was no different.
The players were then split into groups as part of the warm-up and made to play a game. It was exciting. Obviously thriving on being made to play the ball, the best from the ball players was evident.

Although the coach, Hlophe, would time and again change the drill into one or two touch football, there was no denying the fact that the players were enjoying every bit of the session.

All the while, the team’s assistant coach Bhembe was busy with the two goalkeepers, Mbongeni Motsa and Thulani Dube. He made them do a number of different exercises, which really seemed to stretch the duo to the limit. The goalkeepers were then ordered to join the teams.
The new goalkeeper, Dube was bombarded with stinging shots by the razor sharp forwards, while Motsa seemed at ease, as he was hardly threatened.

The mood: The mood at Swallows was always light. It could be the unity among the players. It could be that winning together has made them more like brothers than teammates, it was apparent in every session that the players are united in a common cause.
With the regular jokers, Sandile Hlatjwako, Manqoba Zwane and Mandla Palma all present, laughter characterised the better part of the session.
The casualty ward: Only Zimbabwean defender, Talent Maphosa missed the morning session. According to the team’s acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sibusiso Manana, the player had gone to the clinic to attend to his tonsils , which were said to be troubling him.

The attendance: The ‘Birds’, as the Mbabane giants are affectionately known, recorded a full house at training. Still missing from the team though is experienced midfielder Lwazi ‘Zidane’ Maziya, who is yet to report for training since preseason started.

All of the team’s regulars, of course with the exception of Maphosa were present. The likes of Manqoba Zwane, Sanele Mkhweli, Felix Badenhorst, Mike Mohammed, Mfanafuthi ‘Taribo’ Bhembe, Stanford Ncube and others were sweating it out under the morning sun.
CEO’s Corner : (Sibusiso Manana)
“Preparations are just on the right track and we are looking forward to the game against Buffaloes. Mine would be to appeal to our supporters to come in numbers to the game to cheer the boys to victory. We need their support in this tournament for the boys to perform to expectations. We are not going to do anything we have not done before just because we are playing against Buffaloes. To us, this is just a normal game and that is why the preparations have been normal as well. Nothing has changed.
We still want to win each and every game we play and we also want to lift every trophy. We will go out there on Sunday with one aim, to win the trophy”