Royal champions!

Lobamba – Royal Leopard’s lanky goalminder, Mphikeleli ‘Rabbo’ Dlamini pulled a rabbit out of his hat to become an instant hero by helping his side lift their second Swazi Telecom  Charity Cup trophy.

He did it in front of His Majesty, King Mswati III, the Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini, the royal household, cabinet ministers and other dignitaries including over 10 000 passionate soccer lovers. His two superb, saves during the dreaded penalty shootout against army side Young Buffaloes at the Somhlolo National Stadium gave new coach Sifiso ‘Nuro’ Ntibane his first trophy since taking over from the sacked Zambian Texan Phiri.

Leopard last won the tournament in 2006 and even though yesterday’s final – an all security forces one – the first in the tournament’s 12 year history agonisingly rated itself as the worst with sleep-inducing football to the disappointment of many who had expected fireworks. In the end, it mattered not to Leopard, alias ‘Ingwe Emabalabala’ after Dlamini’s heroics from the boots of Buffaloes defender Mpendulo ‘Baiano’ Kunene and midfielder Wandile Shabangu.

He dived to his left on both occasions. Those were the defining moments of the final that clearly failed to capture the imagination of the spectators.
South African DJ Cleo was badly missed as the two teams laboured unashamedly up and down the field with nothing worth writing home about. Fatigue from both sets of players was evident. Both had come out with bruises in the semi final encounters. Leopard had earlier on had to fend off Correctional Services rival Green Mamba, while Buffaloes rode their luck against Mbabane Swallows.

Referee Mbongiseni Fakudze, who again had a superb showing save for one incident, ordered the two teams to decide the tie through shootouts after they had fired blanks in both halves.
Very few chances were created. One of these was when speedy Buffaloes forward Ndoda Mthethwa broke fee in the centre from what had appeared to be an offside position. He burst forward and stormed the danger area.

He was about to pull the trigger when he seemed to be tripped from behind by a Buffaloes defender. Strangely Fakudze ignored the incident, leaving the Buffaloes’ bench and their supporters seething. Leopard scored their first four spot kicks to seal the tie, while Thabo ‘Koki’ Vilakati’s boys could only find the target once.

Netting for Leopard were Zweli, Mlilo’ Nxumalo, Absalom ‘Absa’ Dlamini, Barry Steenkamp and Bongani ‘Chicken’ Sibandze – who netted the winner to lead the celebrations. Only Sifiso ‘Tjovitjo’ Maseko could beat Mphikeleli between the posts as Kunene and Shabangu’s efforts were thwarted by the Leopard goalminder. Mphikeleli was deservedly named ‘Man of the Match’ after the game. 
 
Teams
Leopard – Mphikeleli, Sizwe, John, Sfiso, Stopper, Buhlebenkosi (Absalom), Zweli, Chicken, Bongnso, (Barry), Sicelo and Juries

Buffaloes – Nhlanhla, Sikelela, Sifiso, Biano, Rio, Mphile,, Sabelo, Zweli, Sdumo (Ndoda) Bheki (Mshengu), 

Match stats
Incident      Leopard       Buffaloes
Fouls               5               6
Free kicks       5               5
Corners          7                4
Offsides          3                1
Penalties          0               0
Goals              0               0

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