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‘MLILO’ FOR PLAYER OF THE SERIES – COACHES

08/04/2014 04:48:00 BY CHRIS DLAMINI

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MBABANE – Champions Royal Leopard look set to sweep the boards in the SwaziBank Cup prize presentation as coaches have picked four of their stars for the E10 000 Player of the Series Award.

Leading the list are midfielder Zweli ‘Mlilo’ Nxumalo and defender Sifiso Nkambule, who both won the Man of the Match awards, while goalkeeper Ncamiso ‘Mbhonyo’ Dlamini and midfielder Bongani ‘Chicken’ Sibandze’s names were also mentioned.

Other names that popped up from the four top coaches that were interviewed include Young Buffaloes’ winger-turned-defender Sifiso Maseko and his teammate, midfielder Wandile ‘Skosh’ Shabangu.

The four coaches are Sihlangu’s Harries ‘Madze’ Bulunga, Malanti Chiefs’ Thabo ‘Koki’ Vilakati, Green Mamba’s Gcina ‘Magiyane’ Dlamini and former Manzini Wanderers South African coach Kenny Ndlazi.

The prize presentation ceremony is likely to be held on Thursday at a venue yet to be announced.

candidates

They did not end by picking the candidates for the best player’s award but also went to say the champions’ coach Sifiso ‘Nuro’ Ntibane was the obvious choice for the Best Coach Award worth E8 500.

“It is difficult to pick the best player as none was consistently outstanding but I would give it to any player between Mbhonyo, Sifiso Nkambule, ‘Mlilo’ and Buffaloes’ Sifiso Maseko as I believe they did well for their clubs. The coach’s award is undisputed, Nuro deserves it,” Madze said.

Vilakati also felt it was not easy to pick the player for this award as none was a consistently a cut above the rest, naming his top candidate as Leopard’s ‘Chicken’ who he said may have been down in the final but had been a pillar of strength at the belly of the park in the other four games.

He also said Sifiso Nkambule deserved it too as he was always stronger in defence while his last candidate was Buffaloes’ Wandile ‘Skosh’ Shabangu who he said also had a brilliant tournament. However, he acknowledged ‘Mlilo’s’ performance in the final and said that could boost him.
‘Magiyane’ gave it to Mlilo for his outstanding performance in the final since he also felt no player was outstanding otherwise but listed defender Sifiso Nkambule as another top favourite. Ndlazi said under the circumstances, Mlilo deserved it as he rose to the occasion in the most crucial stage – the final, when he did not have a bad tournament at all.
Like the rest of the coaches, Magiyane also said there was no other coach for the Best Coach Award but Nuro who won tough games to lift the Cup. On another note, the Top Goal Scorer’s Award worth E10 000 belongs to Mbabane Swallows’ Mike Mohammed who scored six goals.