Moyale not happy with Standard Bank cup final venue

Wants Kamuzu or civo stadium

By ALBERT SHARRA

Standard Bank cup defending champions Moyale Barracks have expressed great concerns over the settlement of Silver Stadium by standard bank customers as the venue for their final game against Blue Eagles next Saturday.

Sponsors of the cup, Standard Bank announced on Thursday last week the final results of the voting by their customers on the venue for the finals which came out with a twist, Silver stadium beating Kamuzu stadium which had been leading in votes since the voting started.

Moyale’s assistant team manager Kazizwa Banda disclosed this in a separate interview on Saturday morning. Banda said, the team is not amused with the decision saying the stadium is very constricted and not suitable for such a cup final.

“We have learnt with great shock that standard Bank customers have settled for Silver stadium as the venue for the finals, as a team we are not happy because the stadium is too small and constricted which to our understanding creates pressure for teams and even supporters and violence is unevitable,”said Banda revealing that they would love the game to be played either at Kamuzu or Civo stadium.

Banda also disclosed that the team is expected to meet early this week to discuss procedures they can follow to approach the sponsors to shift the game to either Civo or Kamuzu stadium.

“We know people want the game to be in the central region and we respect the decision but we want to try to check if it is possible that the game can be shifted to Civo stadium. If they will stick to venues that were on votes, then we will plead for Kamuzu stadium,” said Banda.

Efforts to get the Bank’s stand on the request proved futile as the bank’s Marketing Manager Linda Kachingwe-Sisya refused to comment saying she can’t comment on an unofficial request.

“I can not comment on that now because I have not received the complaint officially , lets wait till we receive an official request from the team and then we can talk as sponsors and what can happen next,” she said trying not expose the possible stand at the bank.

However, Blue Eagles has said it has no problems with the venue saying the power to choose the venue for the finals was in the hands of the bank’s customers.

“I don’t think making any comment here can change anything. The power to decide for the venue was in the hands of standard bank customers and we have to respect their decision. As Blue Eagles we will go for any decision that is made but we have no problems with Silver,” said the team’s coach Deklerk Msakakuona.

A victory for Moyale at Silver stadium will mean the team has won the cup three times in venues in all the three regions. They first did it at Kamuzu stadium in 2008 and last year did it at their home yard in Mzuzu. Their coach Nicholas Mhango has vowed to make it a treble. However, it will not be easy as his counterpart Msakakuona has openly said he wants the cup at his office.

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Waya tells Embangweni to win remaining games

ALBERT SHARRA

CORRESPONDENT

Chairman of the northern region Mzuzu and District Football Leagues (MDFL) Alexander Waya has said he is totally depressed with Embangweni’s performance in the on going TNM Super League and has urged the team to win all their remaining games as an apology to its supporters if the team finishes in relegation zone.

Waya’s comment comes at a time when the team’s chances of finishing outside the relegation zone are becoming slim and slimmer following miserable loses the team has suffered in the past consecutive weeks.

This is the fourth time for the chairman to speak in good wishes for the team since it got its promotion into the league.

“I am not happy with the performance of the team; I have always wanted the team to remain in the league and I have been advising them to build a strong team that can survive in the league but seems there is a problem somewhere. My final advice is that they should not give up but work extra hard and win all their remaining games because anything can happen and they can survive relegation,” said Waya sounding depressed.

He blamed the team’s altitude towards players, advice and game approach for their poor performance and pointed out the firing of players at the club during the first round as a deadly mistake the team did.

Embangweni started the league very well wining most crucial games and for a number of times have stopped the league giants both at home and away but things changed lately after the team fired some players on issues of indiscipline.

Meanwhile, Waya has advised top three teams in the K2 Million Simama League to start making plans of building a strong team if they are promoted into the top flight league.

“What we want here is that teams should stay for good in the super league. The problem with our teams here is that they don’t prepare much. So it is my request to the top three teams which are likely to win the league that they should start up planning for the league,” he said.

History for the region indicates that no team except for Moyale has survived in the league for more than two consecutive leagues.   

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