adminRicky Zililo Sports Reporter
SUPERSPORT will screen live two of the four Mbada Diamonds Cup quarter-final matches which will be played on Saturday and Sunday. Eight teams, the defending champions Dynamos, Highlanders, Chicken Inn, Harare City, Caps United, Buffaloes, How Mine and Hwange will battle it out for the $130 000 winners’ cheque which goes with a $110 000 subsidy for participation in the Caf Confederation Cup next year.
Four of the eight teams that will fall by the wayside after the weekend quarter-finals will receive $30 000 each with the losing semi-finalists set to get $45 000 while the tournament’s losing finalists would pocket $90 000.
According to a circular sent by the Castle Lager Premiership competitions manager Elisha Mandireva, the games that will be on Supersport are the Caps United versus Chicken Inn clash at Ascot Stadium on Saturday and the Highlanders clash with Buffaloes at Mucheke Stadium on Sunday.
The development means that soccer fans who will fail to travel to Gweru and Masvingo will be able to watch their favourite teams in action courtesy of Supersport.
Fireworks are expected in all the quarter-final encounters with the other two which will not be beamed on the pay-per-view channel being the Dulibadzimu clash between Harare City and Hwange as well as the Dynamos/How Mine match at Rufaro Stadium.
Chicken Inn are hunting for a second piece of silverware of the season having bagged the year’s opener, the NetOne Charity Shield while Caps United who suffered a double blow when they lost 1-3 to Shabanie Mine in a league match on Sunday will be hoping to return to winning ways.
The Green Machine’s coach Taurai Mangwiro immediately resigned after the defeat to Shabanie Mine. On their way to the quarter-finals, Chicken Inn clobbered Shabanie Mine 3-0 with their goals coming from midfielders Canaan Nkomo, Clemence Matawu and Kudakwashe Mahachi.
Caps United on the other hand needed penalties to knock Motor Action out of the Premiership’s richest tournament. The Harare giants will have to show their pedigree that saw them earn “The Cup Kings” tag in the late 1980s without their coach Mangwiro who had managed to turn around Caps United’s fortunes.
Chicken Inn welcome back their leading striker Tendai Ndoro who is on loan from South Africa’s Mpumalanga Black Aces. Ndoro who failed to secure an international transfer clearance from Zifa missed the 3-0 win over Shabanie Mine but jetted in on time for the Harare City 1-1 league draw on Saturday.
Mutare’s Buffaloes and Highlanders will meet in as many weeks in another potentially explosive game this time in Masvingo and there will have to be a winner in the cup game after the two teams played 1-1 draw at Sakubva Stadium in the league.
The Bulawayo giants who bowed out at the same stage last season after going down 2-3 to Monomotapa in Hwange will be hoping to sail past the army side.
This will be the second time for Highlanders to play at Mucheke Stadium this season having lost to FC Platinum on penalties in the quarter-finals of the BancAbc Sup8r Cup.
Meanwhile, How Mine’s coach Philani “Beefy” Ncube said his team would bounce back to winning ways following their shock 0-3 home defeat to Black Rhinos in a league match.
Fixtures
Saturday: Caps United v Chicken Inn (Ascot, 1500hrs SS9), Harare City v Hwange (Dulibadzimu)
Sunday: Dynamos v How Mine (Rufaro), Highlanders v Buffaloes (Mucheke, 1500hrs, SS9)
Online Reporter