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Ricky Zililo Sports Reporter
THE last four clubs in the Mbada Diamonds Cup soccer tournament Caps United, Harare City, Highlanders and How Mine will know their semi-finals opponents on Friday.Four of the eight teams that fell by the wayside after the weekend quarter-finals will receive $30 000 each with two of the remaining semi-finalists who will be knocked out guaranteed $45 000 each.
In a telephone interview yesterday, the Castle Lager Premiership competitions manager Elisha Mandireva said the semi-finals draw will be conducted on Friday.
Article 3.9 of the Mbada Diamonds Cup rules and regulations reads, “The semi-final draw shall be conducted after the completion of the quarter-final matches.
Teams that qualify for the semi-finals shall be placed in one group and the draw shall be governed by the following;
1.The first teams to be drawn out of the draw bowl shall be separated.
2.The team picked third shall be paired against the team picked first.
3.The team picked last shall be paired against team picked second.
Football enthusiasts should brace for an exciting showdown as the competition approaches the final stages with the remaining teams likely to up their game as they battle to lift the Cup that does not only guarantee continental football and a subsidy but is the richest cup in the country.
The winners of the tournament will take home $130 000 prize money and the club will also get a $110 000 subsidy for their Caf competition’s participation.
Losing finalists will walk away with$90 000 for their effort, which is far more than the prizemoney for the league championship winners.
The winners of the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League will get $70 000.
With the defending Mbada Diamonds Cup champions Dynamos out after being handed their first defeat since the inception of the tournament in 2011 by How Mine, all the remaining clubs fancy their chances of laying their hands on the richest trophy.
How Mine left Rufaro Stadium with their tails up on Sunday after their 1-0 victory over Dynamos. The gold miners who are in their maiden season in the Premiership made the Harare giants pay dearly for their marshals’ pre-match unruly behaviour as they reportedly manhandled How Mine’s assistant coach Simba Rusike.
“I don’t think there is anything special about Dynamos because they are just like any other club in the Premiership but for their bouncers to continue harassing visiting coaches is very bad.
“Of course Dynamos have lots of history but that does not give them the right to harass their opponents. Instead of them concentrating on coming up with a brilliant game plan, they lost focus as they spent their energy on us and that on its own psychologically affected their players.
“It was more of misdirected energy than anything because we knew that we wanted a win and they were thinking about stopping the juju we don’t have. Throughout the skirmishes, I was calling out the name of Jesus claiming the victory from the heavens and our Lord Jesus who fights our battles gave us the result and I praise him,” said Rusike.
Last year Dynamos’ marshals assaulted Hwange’s coaches Nation Dube and Mebelo Njekwa and the incident that happened before the Mbada Diamonds Cup quarter-final match at Rufaro should not be condoned.
Rusike, a former Highlanders striker, said they were ready to face any team. Very few had given How Mine a chance to progress to the next round but they managed to spring a surprise and beat Dynamos at their fortress.
“What happened at Rufaro is now history and we are turning a new leaf. The Bible says we must forgive those who wrong us and I forgive those bouncers and it’s up to the Premiership to decide what to do. As for the semi-finals, we are ready to face whichever team we are paired with,” Rusike said.
After their win, How Mine stayed in Harare preparing for tomorrow’s league match against Motor Action. In Masvingo on Sunday, three second half goals saw Highlanders breaking their Mbada Diamonds Cup jinx as they sailed through to the last four with a 3-0 win against Buffaloes.
In the first edition of the Mbada Diamonds Cup, Bosso bowed out in the first round and last season they were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Monomotapa.
Highlanders’ goals came from Mthulisi Maphosa in the 63rd minute with man-of-the-match Masimba Mambare increasing their lead five minutes later while Milton Ncube scored with his first touch of the game.
Kelvin Kaindu is looking forward to the semi-finals.
“We have qualified for the semi-finals and we thank God. We don’t know who our next opponents would be but nevertheless we are looking forward to playing in the semi-finals,” said a jubilant Kaindu.
In the other quarter-final matches played on Saturday, Caps United sailed through to the semi-finals after beating Chicken Inn 2-1 at Ascot Stadium in Gweru while Harare City booked their place in the last four following their 2-0 win over Hwange in Beitbridge.
Mbada Diamonds Cup quarter-finals results
Saturday: Chicken Inn 1, Caps United 2; Harare City 2, Hwange 0
Sunday: Highlanders 3, Bufffaloes 0; Dynamos 0, How Mine 1
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