Not for the faint-hearted

On Sunday when the clock strikes 4pm, the country will come to a standstill, as the country’s two biggest teams cross swords in the quarter-finals of the SwaziBank Cup.

It’s the big one, the Mbabane derby, which is more than capable of dividing families into two camps.

Making the Sunday match more interesting is that it will be the first meeting between the two teams in the tournament’s history.

However, a glance in the history archives reveals that the two have had interesting encounters in major knockout tournaments in the past. The latest meeting was in the Trade Fair Cup semi-finals in 2000, where Highlanders won 3-1 in a replayed fixture, after the original fixture was abandoned following crowd violence.

That was on the night of September 4, when a brace by Petros ‘Brooks’ Tembe in the first half and another second half strike by the dearly departed Tholeni ‘Schuster’ Nkambule, set the ‘Black Bull’ on the road to finals, another late striker Sipho ‘Mtseki’ Terblanche pulled one back for Swallows to give some credibility to the score line.

They had also met in the final of the same tournament the previous year, where Highlanders had also beaten their rivals 1-0 to begin their season of invincibility. Other notable knockouts meeting include the 1986 BP Cup semi-finals thriller, which Swallows won 2-1, the BP Cup finals in 1994 where the ‘Black Bull’ escaped with 5-4 win after penalties, that fixture had to be replayed as well.

Two players have featured prominently in some of the previous encounters; these are Sifiso ‘Barnes’ Mkhulisi and Lloyd ‘Magic Feet’ Maziya. Both players left visible footprints in as far as the derby is concerned. And below they share their memories and how the current players should approach the match.

The left-footed utility player started his career with the ‘Black Bull’ as a striker in 1991. He later switched to central midfield and later in his over 10-year career he played in central defence.

BP Cup finals (1994)

BP Cup semi-finals (1997)

Trade Fair Cup final (1999)

Trade Fair semi-finals (2000)

"During my time the derby was always a very tough fixture for every player, because it was a game where current form counted for nothing. And one strange thing I noticed about it was that, it was a fixture that caused butterflies in everyone’s tummy."

"They must not be troubled by their Sunday loss to Manchester because playing in the derby is more advantageous than against the small teams. They need to make sure that they remain calm, train hard and fight until the bitter end."

"It was the 1994 BP Cup final that was decided on penalties. It was a really tough one."

The nimble footed talented player joined the ‘Birds’ nest towards the end of 1984, and it was in the following season where he reached his true potential, as a player hogging the headlines with his silky skills and wondrous goals. He was a class act and no wonder is still regarded as one of the icons of the ‘Beautiful Birds’.

* BP Cup semi-finals (1986)

Swallows 2, Highlanders 1

*Trade Fair Cup final (1988)

Highlanders 3, Swallows 1

*Trade Fair Cup quarter finals (1992) Swallows 5, Highlanders 4 (penalties)

*BP Cup final (1994) Highlanders 5, Swallows 4 (penalties)

"They should try to be as calm as possible to avoid exerting unnecessary pressure on themselves ahead of the match. I was fortunate to watch them on Saturday against Umbelebele and while I was impressed with the way they attack, their defence still needs to be strengthened. They depended much on playing offside traps and that makes them vulnerable. Otherwise players like Sandile Mdlovu have what it takes to perform in a derby."

"The truth is that all the derby games were thrilling, so I cannot single out just one or two where my team won".

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: