R. LEOPARD IN DO OR DIE ENCOUNTER

MBABANE – Eswatini CAF envoys, Royal Leopard need nothing but a win today.

The police outfit have all the odds against them for this crucial encounter where they face the Soweto giants at their own backyard. After the first leg which was played at Mbombela Stadium on February ended in a 6-2 humiliation, the Edwin Matsebula-led team are certainly going there with one aim, to turn the tables in this second leg of the TotalEnergies-sponsored tournament. They need this win more than anything because it would give them a glimmer of hope in the group B stage CAF journey. If they win, it will mean they still stand a chance to qualify to the next round where only the leaders advance to the next round.

First round incentive

Ingwe Mabalabala come into this game  having beaten Mbabane Highlanders 2-0 to walk away with the E200 000 first round incentive on March 2 in the MTN Premier League and went on to annihilate Milling Hot Spurs 5-0 in their first league game of the second round played on Wednesday afternoon at Ka-Langa Technical Centre. While it is still a big concern that the Leopard have not won a game in their group, they can take motivation from the last two defeats Pirates suffered domestically. The host team’s co-coaches Fadlu Davids and Mandla Ncikazi are under-fire after losing the Soweto Derby 1-2 to Kaizer Chiefs and further crashing out of the Nedbank Cup to holders Marumo Gallants after losing 5-4 on penalties. The game ended 1-all in regular time. Since they succeeded German coach Josef Zinnbauer in August last year, Ncikazi and Davids have been in charge of 28 games, winning 11 with five defeats and 12 draws.

They are currently fourth on the league. On paper, Pirates were favourites to win the group but have six points and lost to lowly-ranked Al-Ittihad 2-3 away in Libya. With all these factors coming into play, Leopard can upset the Buccaneers. They proved this during the first leg which was played about three weeks ago, that they can beat Pirates. Within seven minutes, the MTN Premier League defending champions were 2-0 up, courtesy of

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