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Slippery TNM Super League

Like some stunning beauty taking fun in playing with emotions of six desperate men, the 2011/12 TNM Super League title, has been so hard to get.

This lady has listened and entertained proposals of seven men, giving each one of them hope, yet none of them is assured of anything. Such has been the case with the current Super League season since it kicked off on July 9 2011.

With some 32 games to go and an average of three matches remaining for each of the 15 teams to hit the finish line, the guess work of the elite league’s champion continues.

Seven teams, including current leaders and defending champions Escom United, have been in the driving seat.

While Civo United, Moyale Barracks, Blantyre United, Red Lions, Mafco and Silver Strikers have been at the top only to fall with a big thump.

However, Moyale, Lions and Mafco eventually crashed out of the running, proving false talk that Army teams were set to dominate the domestic football scene.

Predicting the championship winner remains risky business.

In contrast, in the Barclays English Premier League, the driving seat has this season been swapped between Manchester United and their city rivals, Manchester City.

In the Spanish La Liga, the top spot has changed hands from surprise package Levante, then Barcelona and now their foes, Real Madrid.

In South Africa, the battle for the league honours has been among Mamelodi Sundowns, Orlando Pirates and SuperSport.

But not with the domestic pride this season. It takes a loss or a win to completely change the complexion of the fluid log table. Escom recently made a return to the summit after a fall from grace.

Yet, at the start of the campaign, Escom stayed the longest at the top seat— five consecutive weeks—when they electrocuted opponents in breathtaking fashion with Ndaziona Chatsalira being the architect.

As injuries and loss of form took their tall on versatile winger Chatsalira and Escom decided to embark on a mini reshuffle, the Electricians suffered a terrible dip in form. Their 2-1 to Blantyre United signalled trouble for Charles Manda and his men.

To their credit, Manda and his team weathered the storm that could have cost their jobs to return to the helm. At the time of writing Escom were dictating matters at the summit on 47 points with one game to wrap up it up.

MBC football analyst Patrick Simango in Midweek Sports programme made a bold gamble, declaring that the season’s winner will either be Escom United or Silver Strikers.

“There is no question about this,” Simango declared. Three days later, Silver lost 1-0 to Mighty Wanderers, ending a six-game unbeaten run. Nomads climbed briefly to fifth on 41 points with their tally at 50 points.

On the same day, Civo travelled to Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre, seeking to consolidate their gains.

But Alex Masanjala could only look in disbelief as his charges lost 1-0 to Azam Tigers and drop to sixth on 41 points before Sunday’s encounter with relegation-bound Zomba United.

But with key players John Lanjesi, Emmanuel Zoya and Joseph Kachule injured, the going has been up and down for Civo.

While Tigers slashed Civo’s maximum tally to 50 points, for second-placed Silver’s tally narrowed to 48 points, just like fourth-placed Blantyre United as of Saturday.

So at the time of writing five teams, including Mighty Wanderers, Blantyre United, the Bankers, Escom and Civo were still in the title hunt. But Masanjala chose to look at the log table differently.

“Very few teams that are in the race will get to our 50-point maximum mark. Escom have a tough last game, so I think us and Silver stand a big chance,” said the veteran trainer.

The only predictable development for this campaign is that Zomba United, rookies Embangweni United and Cobbe Barracks are going back to the second tier, Premier Division.

So for now shelve talk about the standards plummeting; the domestic football pride has been the fiercest since the league’s inception in 1986.

It has been a marathon of endless guessing and hoping rarely heard of in the football world.

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