By Ntokozo Magongo
BY the time you read this, one of the country’s soccer heavyweights between Manzini Wanderers and Mbabane Highlanders would have been left clutching at straws in the MoMo Cup voting exercise which came to an end on Monday midnight.
Unless something extraordinary happened during the last seven hours before closing time on Monday midnight, one of the two teams Manzini Wanderers and Mbabane Highlanders was unlikely to make it to the semi-final playoff of the E2 million sponsored tournament.
Both teams were eager to make it when the lines closed on Monday at midnight. Mbabane Highlanders, who had been placed in the seventh spot for the past month, upped their game on Monday as they overtook Manzini Wanderers who were placed seventh by the end of business on Monday.
The six qualifying teams will be officially announced on Tuesday during a press conference called by the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE). The top two teams will qualify for the semi-finals while the remaining four will have to battle for a spot in the semi-final in the playoffs.
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Highlanders were placed in the sixth spot with 8.6 million votes on Monday at 4:30pm while Manzini Wanderers were placed in the seventh spot with 8.1 million votes. Leading the pack unchallenged was the defending champions Nsingizini Hotspurs who were leading with 31 million votes while Moneni Pirates were second with 29 million votes and closely followed by Mbabane Swallows with 28 million votes.
The three teams are battling for the top two spots that will allow them to sail through to the semi-finals. National First Division sides Pigg’s Peak Black Swallows and Lozitha Spurs were still in the mix with 18 million votes and 12 million votes respectively.
Also set to miss out are the security forces, Green Mamba, Young Buffaloes and Royal Leopard.
