Two to fall in Standard Bank quarter-final
The name of the competition is the 2013 Standard Bank Knockout Trophy. The stage is the quarter-final, but ‘caution’ is the message for today’s Kalulu Stadium quarter-final encounter between Blantyre United and Silver Strikers.
Even more cautious are the Bankers bearing in mind that their results on the road this season have been far from convincing. In fact, Silver visited Kamuzu Stadium a fortnight ago and lost 2-1 to the same opponents they face today.
You can thus understand that during a post-match telephone interview on Thursday, Silver coach Stain Chirwa talked about both the need for them to attack while at the same time doing so cautiously.
“This game means a lot to the Silver family considering that we lost in the final of last year’s edition to Mighty Wanderers and also that we are playing away and the last time we did so, the same team beat us,” Chirwa noted.
He has an injury-free side that can on its day cause problems. There are times Silver can mercilessly stroll past opponents, yet watch them on their off day, they just look ordinary and clueless.
On their day, Green Harawa and Rodrick Gonani can stretch United defence of Greyson Phiri, Osward Maonga and Wachimwa Sadiki. The Silver duo can also dominate the United midfield of Nafe Banda and Yamikani Tambala.
But Chirwa knows pretty well that there is nothing more challenging than facing a team of little-knowns. Players such as resourceful Maonga, promising scorer Sparrow Msowoya and bustling striker Muhamad Sulumba are driven by the desire to make names, yet they also have little to lose.
“We have to be adventurous, but exercise caution as they are a young side that is high on confidence and playing particularly well,” said Chirwa.
United have since promotion to the Super League four years ago never won top flight silverware. Getting to the Carlsberg Cup semi-final was their peak cup showing.
Five second-round league games, a loss and four home wins, three of them played in Kalulu suggest the Elijah Kananji outfit cannot be underestimated.
“I reminded the players yesterday [Wednesday] that we are yet to win a trophy. We might be performing in the league, but cup games have their own dynamics. Somehow, we never seem to get our act together in cup competitions and we need to build on our Carlsberg semi-final showing. This game can go either way,” said Kananji.
In another quarter-final at Dedza Stadium today, one Malawi Defence Force team should bite the dust when Kamuzu Barracks (KB) host bad travellers Moyale Barracks. KB and Moyale eliminated Epac and Mafco respectively in the preliminary stages on Wednesday.
In other quarter-finals, Civo United host Big Bullets tomorrow at Civo Stadium as Mighty Wanderers entertain Red Lions at Balaka Stadium.
