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IT’LL BE A TACTICAL WARFARE!

17/08/2018 03:58:00 BY PHUMELELE MKHONTA

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Sports journalists are the only people foolish enough to predict the outcome of a football match,” once remarked the dearly departed Zambian-born mentor, Francis ‘Mkhulu’ Banda.

He was responding to a prediction Yours Truly had made of the Trade Fair Cup final in 2001 that his team, Green Mamba would go down to hot favourites Manzini Wanderers.
Like a peacock, Banda was prancing around after seeing wing wizard Thokozani ‘Nyosi’ Tsabedze – Tony’s elder brother – score a brace in a 2-0 win as Green Mamba left a filled-to-the-rafters Trade Fair as quiet as a church mouse. I got it horribly wrong.

I should have learnt my lessons then but to this day I still continue to do predictions, and thank God I always get them right. I do not claim to have a superpower or being a fortune teller but I will seriously consider being a sangoma in my next life when it comes to football matches predictions. Today, August 17, I want to put my neck on the chopping board by boldly declaring that the Swallows of Mbabane will triumph at Mavuso Sports Centre tomorrow.

This is the biggest match in the club’s 70-year glorious and chequered history. Their camp may resemble a casualty ward with the minor knocks to key players and the big blow of the new jersey number 11, Xolani ‘Papi’ Sikhondze ruled out of CAF games after missing the registration deadline, but tomorrow’s clash will rest significantly on the tactical approach.

That’s where the two club mentors, Thabo ‘Koki’ Vilakati for Mbabane Swallows and George Lwandamina come in. The two gaffers’ approach to tomorrow’s game is critical. Believe it or not, the two teams, Swallows and Zesco still have a mathematical chance of qualifying for the quarter-final stage of the premium competition but all rest in tomorrow’s match results. It’s a do or die; it’s a make or break; it’s a game where you either kill or be killed. There will be no second chances.

SWALLOWS
Thabo ‘Koki’ Vilakati

Without any iota of doubt, the most successful coach, not only at Mbabane Swallows but in the country right now. A boutique of 11 trophies – and still counting – already in his bag, ‘Koki’, born and bred at bitter rivals, Highlanders, has achieved what all previous Swallows coaches can only dream of. Criticised in some quarters of being too emotional, inflexible at times, getting too excited (in the words of the man who hired him, the late Swallows boss, Victor ‘Maradona’ Gamedze’ ... Koki ubese uba too excited mkhulu ... hehehehe). Vilakati has been collecting trophies like a croupier raking in chips at a Casino.

His approach in some of the games in the CAF Champions League have been spot on – the first game away against Zesco United on May 5 and the second game against Angola’s Desportivo 1 de Agosto at home on May 15, which earned Swallows the four points that keeps their dream of quarter-final qualification alive. He got it all wrong, though, on the fateful Tuesday afternoon of July 17 at Mavuso Sports Centre, when he went toe-to-toe with the experienced ‘Jewel Coast’ of Tunisia, which culminated to a deflating 3-0 loss.

It would be harsh to blame him for the 2-0 loss away at the artistic Olympique de Sousse because disoriented Swallows clearly took a knife to a gun’s fight on July 27.
A cautious approach coupled with an early goal could work for Swallows, as it will unsettle the visiting ‘Zelegalacticos’ of the Copper belt. Whether fairly or unfairly, Vilakati’s tactical nuance will once again come under scrutiny in tomorrow’s must-win clash.

ZESCO UNITED
George Lwandamina
Nicknamed ‘Chicken’, George Lwandamina bounced back as coach for Zesco United on April 9 this year, taking over from Tenant Chembo who resigned as interim coach on Sunday, 8 April. Lwandamina is a highly-accomplished coach who has been head coach of Tanzanian side, Young African (the same team former Swallows Congolese midfielder, Papy Kapamba plays for now) and also served as assistant coach for ‘Chipolopolo’, as Zambia’s national team is affectionately known, under the amiable Herve Renard from 2008-2010.
Born on August 5, 1963, the former Mufulira Wanderers defender also led the Zambia National Team Under-20 team to the 2007 FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Canada, where the team reached the last 16. He also led the Zambia National Team Under-20 to Cosafa victory in 2003, including two runner-up finishes in 2004 and 2006.
At club level he led Green Buffaloes to runners-up finishes in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007.
He has served as head coach for ZESCO United FC before - from 2014 to 2017. During the 2017 season, he also doubled as head coach for the senior Zambia National team. Lwandamina won two league titles and the Barclays Cup for ZESCO FC. He also won the Barclays Cup with Red Arrows in 2013.
He is also league winner with Young Africans in their previous season.
His other previous appointments include Kabwe Warriors, Nchanga Rangers where he was technical director from 2000 to 2001, and Mufulira Wanderers where he won two league titles as Ashios Melu’s assistant in 1995 and 1996.
An astute technician with a wealth of experience, he was in charge when Zesco United reached the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League in 2016. The man in Kenneth Kaunda’s land often referred to as the ‘King’, prefers to play laid-back and trusted 4-4-2 system with top striker Jesse Were leading the attacking forays.

MY BOLD PREDICTION: Swallows will win by an odd goal.