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UNFORGETTABLE MOMENTS FROM 2019/20

08/04/2020 01:10:00 BY SPORTS REPORTER

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Hammering goals is the essence of the game, how they are scored is the culture of the game and how they are celebrated is the soul of football.
This is what makes football, the game of the billions, such a beautiful game. It even affects our happy co-efficiency. Only a tone-deaf simpleton with a stab of concrete where his brain is supposed to be would argue otherwise.

So before the COVID-19 hit our football for six - shutting it down unceremoniously and turning the whole world upside down, the 2019/2020 season was already proving to be exciting and unpredictable in equal measure. It kicked off on August 11, 2019, with Mbabane Highlanders ending a nine-year wait for something shiny in the form of silverware, beating Manzini Wanderers 2-0 in the final to win the season opener, the EswatiniTelecom Charity Cup.
Dominant army side Young Buffaloes were the early pace-setters in the MTN league, wrapping up the first round in pole position and sweeping the boards in the individual awards as the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) parted ways with Serbian Sihlangu coach Kostadin Papic sooner than you could say ‘Bill Clinton’.
Then the unthinkable happened on Friday, March 13, when the EFA announced that the quarter-final matches of the EswatiniBank Cup had been called off due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. It then subsequently led to the suspension of the whole football season until May.
Sports Editor LWAZI DLAMINI picks the unforgettable moments of the 2019/2020 season.

HIGHLANDERS WINNING FIRST TROPHY IN NINE YEARS
On the memorable Sunday afternoon of August 11, 2019, coach Zenzele ‘Ace’ Dlamini led Mbabane Highlanders to a 2-0 win over Manzini Wanderers to hand the country’s football aristocrats their first trophy since they last won the same Cup and the EswatiniBank Cup in 2010.
It was the first trophy for new flamboyant club boss, Ally Kgomongwe and celebrations afterwards were palpable. Gwaza Nkunzi!

‘SAVIOLA’ SWEEPS THE BOARDS
IN LEAGUE 1st ROUND
Not only was he crowned the ‘Player of the month’ for October but his 15-goal haul in the first half of the season ensured he walked away with both the Top goalscorer and the ‘Best Player’ awards for the first round.
Having also netted four goals in the army side’s 5-0 massacre of listless Pigg’s Peak Black Swallows, very few can bet against him matching or even eclipsing former Mbabane Swallows Cameroonian striker Etienneh Massoye’s 11-year record of 19 goals in one season set in the 2008/09 season as he now has 17 goals under his belt.

YOUNG BUFFALOES CLINCH FIRST ROUND E350 000 CARROT
On December 22, 2019 while the Mbabane derby between Highlanders and Swallows ended in a goalless draw at Somhlolo National Stadium with referee Thembinkosi Dlamini ruling out a ‘goal’ by Josef Lekata in controversial circumstances, Young Buffaloes were skinning Moneni Pirates alive 3-1 at Mavuso Sports Centre to win the league’s first round E350 000 carrot.

KOSTADIN PAPIC/EFA
MARRIAGE ENDS
After a winless streak stretching 13 games in charge of the Eswatini senior national football team, the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) released Serbian coach Kostadin Papic from his misery when they served the divorce papers on November 29, 2019. It was as predictable as night following day.

NATIONAL U-20 BRAVE
PERFORMANCES IN COSAFA
After impressive performances in the opening games of the COSAFA Under-20 Youth Championships in Lusaka, Zambia – beating Mozambique and Seychelles 2-0 respectively – the Dominic Kunene-led charges lost 4-1 to Angola and lost the opportunity to advance for the knockout stage for the first time in 31 years. The last youth squad to reach the knockout stage and even win a bronze medal was captained by current Denver Sundowns boss Mark Carmichael in Botswana in 1988.

DOMINIC KUNENE APPOINTED
SIHLANGU HEAD COACH
Long after Eswatini’s leading newspaper by a long mile, the Times of Eswatini has ‘commanded’ the hiring of coach Dominic Kunene and Gcina ‘Magiyane’ Dlamini, the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) officially announced the duo in a press statement on January 19.
The army side, Young Buffaloes mentor was previously head coach of the National Under-20 squad, which he led in the COSAFA Youth Championships in Lusaka, Zambia in December.

TAMBANKULU CALLIES SHOCK
WANDERERS IN
INGWENYAMA CUP
Just as the little David slew the lardy Goliath in biblical times, National First Division table toppers Tambankulu Callies sent shockwaves around the country on Sunday, January 19 when they beat Manzini Wanderers 2-0 in an exciting Ingwenyama Cup quarter-final clash at Somhlolo National Stadium. Two late extra time goals from Wandile Simelane and Siphesihle Nsimbini sent the hub giants packing out of the richly sponsored tournament.

HIGHLANDERS END SWALLOWS’ THREE-YEAR JINX
Not since April 3, 2016 when Mbabane Highlanders beat their traditional rivals Swallows 2-1 in a league match, did the black part of the Capital City celebrate a win over the red part. It also took 223 minutes of play for Highlanders to score against Swallows – a goal by South African winger Kenneth Moloto in the 43rd minute decided this Ingwenyama Cup last 16 clash. 8 000 fans witnessed this single header clash on January 12, in a game the Swallows fans left the stadium cursing the name of referee Mbongeni Shongwe, justifiably so, having turned a blind-eye to not one, but two blatant penalties in particular the 23rd minute incident where winger Wonder ‘Samba Jive’ Nhleko was upended by defender Jimoh Moses inside the box.
Highlanders hyperbole celebrations threatened to raise the dead at the nearby Mdzimba Mountain.

THABISO MOKENKOANE’S 8-GOAL BLITZ IN LEOPARD’S HISTORIC WIN
The country’s highest paid footballer, Thabiso Mokenkoane, rewrote history books on February 15, when he netted not one, not two, not a hat-trick but EIGHT goals against hapless Shiselweni’s Nsingizini Hotspurs in Royal Leopard’s historic 12-0 win at King Sobhuza II Memorial Stadium.
This was during the Last 32 stage of the EswatiniBank Cup Idlala Kamnandzi clash. In spite of his team having exited the tournament, Mokenkoane is still the leading goalscorer of the tournament after his eight-goal haul.
Historic feat!

GREEN MAMBA CLINCH INGWENYAMA CUP FOR THE FIRST TIME
The country’s richest tournament, the Ingwenyama Cup, saw new champions being crowned in Green Mamba who bit Mbabane Highlanders two times – Mxolisi Mkhontfo and Mxolisi ‘Xavi’ Mkhontfo scoring in either half – to take home the first prize cheque of E1.4 million plus the glittering trophy on the memorable Sunday of March 8. The tournament’s patron, His Majesty King Mswati III handed the trophy to captain Banele ‘Makonese’ Dlamini amidst fire-crackers as coach Caleb Ngwenya celebrated winning his first major trophy of his illustrious coaching career.
Luma Nyoka!

ESWATINIBANK CUP QUARTER-FINAL GAMES CALLED OFF
Soccer fans woke up to shocking newspaper headlines on Saturday, March 14 that the quarter-final matches of the EswatiniBank Cup had been called off.
This followed government’s precautionary measures with regard to the outbreak of the coronavirus which has already claimed more than 50 000 lives world-wide. Four days later, the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) chairman, Peter ‘Touch’ Magagula announced that the season will be suspended for two months.