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Grace Chingoma Senior Sports Reporter
ONE of the clubs bankrolled by country’s two biggest municipalities — Harare City or Bulawayo City — will fall at the semi-final stage of the Chibuku Super Cup and the Sunshine Boys believe they won’t be the one who will crash out of the tournament. How Mine will play either Shabanie Mine or CAPS United whose quarter-final showdown was abandoned at Maglas because of crowd trouble after the assistant referee Thomas Kusosa was struck by a missile.

The matches will be played this Saturday and Sunday at venues to be announced by the league. Harare City representative, Hope Chizuzu, said they were happy with the draw.

“As the former holders of the Cup, we are pleased to be facing Bulawayo City. They are not playing as well as they normally do, we are also struggling in the league. But our run in the Cup has always been good,’’ he said.

“Our coach, Philani “Beefy” Ncube, once coached Bulawayo City and so, in terms of a technical plan, I believe we have an upper hand. We are happy to draw Bulawayo City and even the coach was hoping to draw a Bulawayo team. Our chances are looking good in this competition, we where seem to get crucial passes and goals at the right time.’’ Bulawayo City representative Lindela Tshuma warned the Sunshine Boys against banking on their wealth of experience in this tournament.

“History is always made, Cup games are always difficult to predict but we are also eager to go all the way and play in Africa next year. The draw is quite fair considering that we played Dynamos in the first round and beat them. We have earned our place in the semi-finals and we were ready to face any other team,” said Tshuma. How Mine representative John Makoni, said they were confident of reaching the semi-final and probably win the prestigious tournament and a ticket to play in the Confederation Cup.

“This is a fair draw. We are looking forward to meeting any team which comes out after the disciplinary process. We came here prepared to meet any team. How Mine represents Metallon Gold and this is an opportunity to enhance the brand. It is an opportunity to represent the country in the African Safari,’’ he said.

Shabanie Mine representative Agnes Mupasiri says they have declared that this year the Cup will go to Zvishavane again. FC Platinum won it in 2014.

“It was a good draw. We have already declared that the Cup is ours. We are not worried about the outcome of the hearing because we didn’t cause the abandonment of the match. We are already looking forward to playing How Mine and we are ready for them. We expected to meet any team,” she said. Mupasiri, who is mother of the club’s skipper Farai Mupasiri, added that they will fight on both fronts — winning the Cup and surviving relegation.

“Even in the league, we are not going to be relegated. We have hope and the boys are fighting hard,” said Mupasiri.
Chibuku Brand Manager Karen Dhliwayo called for Fair Play. We continue to encourage Fair Play and good sportsmanship,” she said.
CAPS United were also invited to the draw as they await their verdict on the game which was abandoned in the 62nd minute.

Draw
Semi-final 1: How Mine v Shabanie Mine/CAPS United.

Semi-final 2: Bulawayo City v Harare City.