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WHAT A MOJA START!

18/09/2018 02:23:00 BY LWAZI DLAMINI AND ASHMOND NZIMA

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My dearest readers ... Statistics are like a bikini. What they reveal is suggestive but what they conceal is vital.

This is not me saying it but one former business professor, Aaron Levenstein many moons ago. He could not have put it with such alluring clarity than in the case of the start of the 2018/19 MTN Premier League in the beautiful tiny Kingdom of Eswatini this past weekend.

It was a gentle entry into the hurly-burly of the new season; a cocktail of comical cock-ups like the called off games at the eleventh hour for flimsy reasons, the swarm of silly relegation/promotion scandal that has never been settled and the waterfall of a new phenomenon of pre-sale tickets, which left some fans as confused as the proponents of this otherwise great idea. Welcome to the MOJA MTN Premier League of Eswatini.

What an entry into the new season. Where statistics are concerned, I doff my poor boy’s cap for the beautiful Birds of Mbabane for equalling England’s Arsenal, who clocked 49 league games’ unbeaten run between May 2003 to October 2004 in the Barclay’s Premier League 18-team league before Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United ended it with a 2-0 thrashing at the ‘Theatre of Dreams’, which lately has turned into an arena of nightmares. For Swallows, theirs is even more meritorious, given that they have achieved the 49 league unbeaten run, first in the 12-team league and secondly, in a 14-team league and now over three seasons, which just begun.

Their dominance of local football is all credit to a team that has made winning their culture; it’s in their DNA and it now comes as natural as night following day.
The statistics, as Aaron Levenstein rightly observed, doesn’t tell half the incredible of the dominance of the Swallows of Mbabane. During this unbeaten run, they have collectively scored a total of 108 goals (47 in 2016-17 season; 58 in the 2017/18 season and three goals in the first game of the 2018/19 season), while conceding 30 goals (14 in the 2016/17 season; 15 in the 2017/18 season and one goal in 2018/19 season, which just started). Practically, this means Swallows have scored +78 goals over 49 games, which is an average of almost two goals per game. Lest we forget, in the 2016/17 season, leading top goal-scorer Sabelo ‘Sikhali’ Ndzinisa scored FIVE more goals than relegated Manzini Sea Birds, who could only score 14 goals the whole season! During this amazing, trail-blazing scoring spree, the red and white glamour side has only played two goalless draws– against Matsapha United at Mavuso Sports Centre on the memorable Wednesday night of October 11, 2017 and against Tambuti FC on May 12, 2018 two weeks after they had been crowned champions for the second season in a row.

Lest we forget, for a team that had only won the league title once in 1993, their six league haul in the 15-year MTN league-sponsored era has been remarkable, to say the least. Champions in 2004/05, 2008/09, 2011/12, 2012/13, 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons, Thabo ‘Koki’ Vilakati’s invincibles have now matched Royal Leopard as one of the only two teams to have won the league six times since Eswatini MTN began sponsoring the ultimate competition in the 2002/03 season.
The ‘Birds’ boutique of 11 trophies in the last three seasons, coupled with CAF Confederation Cup and CAF Champions Group stages qualifications no doubt makes them the country’s most successful side in the turn of the 21st Century. They have, to paraphrase Sir Alex Ferguson’s famous quote on eclipsing bitter rivals, Liverpool, “knocked them off their fuc$%& perch!” How remarkably then that Swallows equalled the revered Gunners of London’s 49 league match unbeaten run at the expense of their traditional rivals, whose fans left the stadium at a funeral pace in utter dismay and disgust. For Swallows fans, it was as sweet as nectarine. It was orgasmic and mesmerising in every sense of the word.

Even more crude after Highlanders dominated the first half for prolonged periods of time, even taking an early lead which those who were amongst the 10 000 souls worshipping on the altar of football on Sunday will consider themselves lucky to have seen in their lifetime. What a perfect team goal!
Picture the scene.

Left footed midfielder Mlamuli ‘Mlaba’ Nkambule picks Xolani ‘Chocco’ Sibandze with a lacerating through pass that would have defied all the rules of geometry; the captain ‘Chocco’ finds gifted midfielder, Vusimuzi Zungu with deft touched pass and the burly midfielder who thrills the soul with his silky skills, skinned two Swallows players before crossing for the unmarked quicksilver striker Thabiso Mokenkoane. As if the whole world grinded to a stand-still, the South Africa born striker, who scored 11 goals for Highlanders despite having joined in January, connected so sublimely, Swallows goalkeeper Sandanezwe Mathabela was left sprawling on the turf like a newly-born kitten. Mathabela could not be blamed. Goalkeepers to save such kind of rasping shots, which rocked the roof of the net, are yet to be born.

The celebrations from the Highlanders fans were palpable. In my over 20 years as a pen-pusher, I have not seen many goals like that probably eclipsed by Swallows Burundian sharp shooter Said ‘Chocolate’ Shabani’s finish against the self-same Highlanders in a BP Cup final in 1994 (which was won by Highlanders in penalties) or Malawian Peterson Kaira’s Manzini Wanderers’ headed goal against Highlanders in 1989 league second round at the self-same iconic venue, which ended with the ‘Black Bull’, however, winning 3-2.

Simply stunning!
Highlanders were on the ascendency, Swallows were struggling to find their rhythm after midfielder Njabulo ‘D4D’ Ndlovu was shockingly placed as a second striker just behind Sandile Hlatshwako. It allowed Zungu, ‘Chocco’ Sibandze and ‘Mlaba’ to toy around the Swallows midfielder, ‘Papi’ Sikhondze and Richard McCreesh. But lapses in concentration saw Swallows net the equaliser when ‘Papi’ Sikhondze, the new jersey number 11, endeared himself to the hearts of the Swallows faithful like his younger brother, ‘Pupu’ with another sterling display, which rightly earned him the ‘man of the match’ award.

It was a tactical change at half-time which swung the game Swallows’ way when coach Thabo ‘Koki’ Vilakati brought in the inventive Sizolwethu ‘Nunu’ Shabalala for the struggling Richard McCreesh and moved ‘D4D’ to his celestial anchor-man role. Again, Swallows’ high fitness level came to the fore. They do not say the first five minutes at the start of a game or at the start of the second half are crucial for nothing. Indeed, two minutes into the second half, Highlanders’ defence was caught out of shape, pried open like the Red Sea at Moses behest in Biblical times, allowing Sandile Hlatshwako to combine beautifully with Wonder ‘Samba Jive’ Nhleko, whose performances far belie his advancing years, who went on to finish coolly under the advancing youthful goalkeeper, Mxolisi Dlamini. Nhleko, at the ripe age of 37 years, is like a car with its mileage clocked back!

When Sizolwethu netted the third goal, Highlanders fell apart like the Biblical walls of Jericho. A seven defeat in a row in all competitions was unavoidable for the ‘Black Bull’. For a derby, which began in earnest as way back as April 1953, it is sadly becoming as predictable as night following day. That was the beauty of the start of the 2018/19 season. With Royal Leopard annihilating Malanti Chiefs 4-0, Manzini Sundowns playing a goalless draw with Tambuti FC; Green Mamba adding to Manzini Wanderers woes, we couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season.