‘BIRDS’ FACE ‘WESLIANS’

MBABANE – Buckle Up for a dream Ingwenyama Cup quarter-finals draw. Yesterday’s quarter-final draw for the third edition of the competition has produced mouth-watering pairings, headlined by a clash pitting back to back winners; Mbabane Swallows against Manzini Wanderers.

You may call it a clash to die for. And it is; a game pitting two of the country’s three traditional big three teams. They have not met in a major knockout tournament since the quarter-finals of the SwaziBank Cup in 2008, where Ndoda Mthethwa brace cancelled out Mgonodi Sidel’s first half strike to transport the ‘Weslians’ to the semi-finals.

It was no doubt the pick of the last eight, and it is a pairing that disengaged Ingwenyama Cup PRO Nkosilenhle Masuku from a jolly mood for some seconds.

One thing interesting about the draw was that at least there will be a team from the National First Division League in the semi finals, as surprise packages Milling Hotspurs were paired against ambitious side Mbabane Citizen. The giant-killing Milling Hotspurs have already knocked out Matsapha United and Mbabane Highlanders respectively in the tournament.

There will also be an interesting armed forces derby pitting last year’s runners-up Young Buffaloes who will face on form Green Mamba. The last eight round ties is completed by the pairing of 2015 runners-up Royal Leopard against a Manzini Sundowns side that has reached the semi-final of the previous two editions of the cup.

The draw was conducted at the SMVA offices in Mbabane yesterday at noon by the Johannes Siboza chaired Management Committee (MC). The tournament’s PRO Nkosilenhle Masuku highlighted how the previous rounds of the cup have never lacked excitement from the upsets caused by clubs such as Milling Hotspurs who are the surprise packages.

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