Times Of Swaziland: SOLO INJE! NEEDS NO RESURRECTION!

SOLO INJE! NEEDS NO RESURRECTION!
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BY NONDUMISO MSIBI on 05/03/2019 00:42:00


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.