JBF defends Swed Copa Coca-Cola title
Joyce Banda Foundation (JBF) players were on song at the Blantyre Youth Centre (BYC) on Sunday as they won a record fourth title of the Copa Coca-Cola South West Education Division (Swed) football championships.
Blantyre Urban Zone champions JBF beat Chikhwawa Secondary School 4-1 to retain the title and earn a place in the national finals.
Despite being the first to score—10 minutes into the game through Wilfred Benson—the Martin Malisawa-coached Chikhwawa side seemed to have been carried away with their lead. They relaxed and concentrated more on defensive rather than attacking football.
But in an extraordinary demonstration of never-say-die attitude, JBF, who beat Blantyre Rural Zone champions Ntenjera CDSS 1-0 in the other semi-final the previous day, pressurised upfront until they plucked two goals before half-time through Kadenge Mwafulirwa and Precious Msosa.
JBF continued to dominate the affairs in the second-half and got two more goals through Wongani Kuchisanja and Martin Mapinda. This is JBF’s fourth Swed title since 2007.
Nevertheless, JBF’s determination to defend the title might have come from their longing to win the national title and a trip to Germany.
Apart from that, the sponsors Carlsberg Malawi Limited revealed that the national finals will not be competed among the education divisions’ select sides, but the respective winning secondary schools.
“I would say we are happy to have defended the Swed title, but we are not satisfied yet. We want to win the trip to Germany,” said JBF coach Robert Munthali, whose side will also travel to Namibia for being the Airtel Rising Star Football champions.
