ANIMATED FINAL

Sports Editor

(At Somhlolo National Stadium)

LOBAMBA – Buckle Up!

The 5th edition of the Ingwenyama Cup final will be contested by Mbabane Highlanders against Green Mamba in a repeat of the EswatiniBank Cup final in 2012 next month.

Eight years to the day Green Mamba annihilated Highlanders 3-1 in that unforgettable one-sided final, the two sides will square up for the princely first prize cheque of E1.4 million next month in a final that has all the hallmarks of a thriller rolled into one.

losing

Yesterday, Highlanders, losing Cup finalist last year in the same tournament - massacred 4-1 by a ruthless Young Buffaloes – licked National First Division side Tambankulu Callies 2-0 courtesy of a brace by versatile Sabelo ‘Sawa’ Gamedze while a 10-man Green Mamba came back from behind to beat Moneni Pirates 2-1 in the other semi-final. ‘Inyoka Eluhlazana’, down to 10 men after Thabo Mngometulu was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 67th minute, displayed a never-say-die attitude and dexterity of a slithering green mamba in an East African forest.

The second major Cup final meeting between Highlanders and Green Mamba in the last decade, in all honesty, was an unpredictable affair, which not even the best sangomas in the business – even from the famed East African country where the denizen in the world of spooks claim to fly on broomsticks – could have predicted. Minister of Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs Harries ‘Madze’ Bulunga, Eswatini Football Association (EFA) President Adam ‘Bomber’ Mthethwa and Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) Chairman Peter ‘Touch’ Magagula joined by Members of Parliament and other distinguished guests, watched two emotionally-charged games which treated the 4 000 fans into some mini-boxing duels on the terraces.

scuffle

Mbabane Highlanders head coach Thabo ‘Koki’ Vilakati and some Tambankulu Callies officials, including Chairman Ngudze Mamba, were involved in a scuffle in the start of the second half, which needed the quick intervention of police officers to separate the warring factions. On the pitch, brace hero Sabelo ‘Sawa’ Gamedze clashed with Callies’ substitute Jabulani Mpimbili and several players from both sides joined in the circus before referee Thokozani Dlamini restored order and sanity.
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