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SWALLOWS, YOU BEAUTY!

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Sports Editor
(Courtesy of Swazi MTN)

LUSAKA – Glorious Mbabane Swallows go by the moniker of ‘Yize Bekhala, yize belila ... ukhona ozonethwa,’ – and indeed at the sound of the final whistle here after the historic 2-1 win, Zambian top side, Zanaco players trudged off the pitch like wet hens, dripping in incessant raindrops.


The weather forecast, as Zambian daily newspaper, the Times reporter, Sandra Mwila, had predicted in his match preview, there would be light rains and thunderstorms which would be a perfect condition for certain species of birds for Zanaco to deal with.


But little did Mwila and his other 13 million countrymen prepare themselves for not only a shocking defeat but the first by the ‘Bankers’ of Zambia in the CAF Champions league at home. Maybe they should have headed the biblical story that a rainy afternoon is a godsend for the ornithological swallow – make that Mbabane Swallows – providing conditions that attract swarms of winged insects that are such tasty meal.


The Swallows of Mbabane devoured on the ‘Bankers’ of Zambia in such a brutal manner, the silence inside the stadium after the Zimbabwean match referee, Norman Matemera had blown his whistle was so deafening, you could have heard a Kwacha coin drop.


Only the longest rendition of the now trademark song, ‘Myekeleni Aphumule’ reverberated around the modest 5 000 capacity Nkoloma Stadium like a tornado. One could have sworn the deadly Listeriosis virus had suddenly infected the boisterous Zambians who prior to the game had told everyone who cared to listen that they could not lose to a team from ‘Little Swaziland’.


Perhaps, the thin slices of humble pie they munched after the game was produced by Enterprise from Polokwane.


I digress.
What cannot be put down in words is how Swallows summoned all the courage, tactical discipline, fighting spirit and determination they could muster to cause one of the biggest upsets in the African football jungle.
If the 4-2 aggregate win over Congo Brazzaville’s AC Leopard in the CAF Confederation leading to qualification to the Group stages last year and a E3.4 million bounty to boot, was emphatic, Wednesday’s 2-1 victory over Zanaco was a memento; a marking of history and one win you will want to tell your grandchildren about.


Overtime, in sport, even the greatest achievements fade. Sir Alex Ferguson’s 13 league titles with Manchester United meld to one glorious procession. What remains is the truly exceptional. Manchester United’s 1999 UEFA Champions League extra-time 2-1 win over Bayern Munich. Liverpool’s 2005 Istanbul miracle.

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