SOLO ANJE EMA-ARMED FORCES SIDES

My dearest readers ...

If Manzini Sundowns were to play as well as how their PRO Muzi Matsenjwa articulates himself, they would certainly be through to the finals of the EswatiniBank Cup, even before the first ball was kicked in anger against Young Buffaloes on Sunday.

Matsenjwa, was in his element in yesterday’s semi-final draw at the sponsor’s auditorium, even rightly christening his team’s clash against the two-successive time EswatiniBank Cup defending champions, Young Buffaloes as ‘Sundowns against them’. He took the cake when he opined that since they are the only ‘civilian’ side left in the tournament, the rest of the Eswatini soccer loving nation should rally behind Sundowns ‘against the rest’.

But unfortunately, talk is cheap. The sad reality is that Manzini Sundowns face a ruthless machine in Young Buffaloes who are flattening everything before them in all categories – be it Women and Under-20 level in this tournament. They are facing the reigning Ingwenyama Cup champions who annihilated Mbabane Highlanders 4-1 in the Cup final on March 17 in a manner that called for the intervention of the Animal Welfare Society. Never has a Cup final of this magnitude been so one-sided. It was embarrassing even to the neutrals.

The army side are unbeaten in 16 successive games this year, and last lost a game to a local side on November 3, 2018 to Green Mamba, a 3-1 loss at Mhlume’s Nsukuwansuku stadium in an MTN league clash. Third on the MTN log standings with 44 points – 22 points better than Sundowns – and just four points behind log leaders, Royal Leopard with four games remaining, ‘Amathole Ezinyathi’ are still in the running for a remarkable ‘Treble’. I do not mean to scare Matsenjwa and those who swear on ‘Basop IKappa Kappa’ but the Dominic Kunene-coached side, lest we forget, are two successive times reigning EswatiniBank Cup defending champions.

Sundowns, on the other hand, have fallen on the gates of glory twice in the 16-year chequered history of the EswatiniBank Cup – losing 5-1 to Green Mamba on the inaugural tournament in 2004 and 1-0 to Royal Leopard in 2007. So Matsenjwa and Sundowns, be afraid, be very afraid.

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As Ruben says in the blockbuster, Ocean’s Eleven, my all-time favourite movie, “if you gonna steal from Teddy Benedict, you’ve got to be nuts and you gonna need a crew as nuts as you are,” This grandson of Mlonyeni is saying to you Matsenjwa and Sundowns, if you gonna beat Buffaloes, you need your team to be as exquisite as your linguistics!

Anything less, would leave you in smithereens because the army side seems to be transported to another world of their own these days. They are simple, unplayable and some of the goals they score like the one netted by the mercurial Sandile Gamedze, against Matsapha United on Saturday at Somhlolo National Stadium are out of this world.

The other semi-final pairing of the armed forces – Leopard, against Green Mamba, is obviously an unpredictable affair. Though Green Mamba did beat Leopard 2-0 recently, in a league game at Nsukuwansuku Stadium, this semi-final clash will be a completely new game altogether.

One thing is certain though, all indications, like it or not, are that we could have an all-armed forces cup final, like it happened in 2013 when Royal Leopard beat Young Buffaloes 3-1. It all means, like the State-of-the-Nation-Sports-Address (SONSA) articulated more than a month ago, the armed forces are back on football’s top table.

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