City boot Monoz out

Sport
SILAS Songani hit a stunning free-kick as Harare City advanced to the quarter-finals of the Mbada Diamonds Cup after elbowing out last year’s finalists Monomotapa at Rufaro Stadium yesterday.

Harare City…………(0 1 Monomotapa…………0 SILAS Songani hit a stunning free-kick as Harare City advanced to the quarter-finals of the Mbada Diamonds Cup after elbowing out last year’s finalists Monomotapa at Rufaro Stadium yesterday.

TAWANDA TAFIRENYIKA SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

The Harare City winger, later named the man-of-the-match to take home $500 and a trophy, won a free-kick outside the area on 67 minutes. And as he stepped up to take responsibility, he showed conviction and style before expertly thumping the ball past the wall and Monomotapa goalkeeper Tapiwa Zvaita.

But with the goal coming just after a black cat had strayed into the stadium before running along the pitch and towards the Monomotapa goal, it highlighted once again the belief in juju in football as fans chanted: “Mawiwi! Mawiwi!”

Monomotapa coach Biggie Zuze said he has not seen that before and was also surprised by the cat in particular the direction it took as it ran into the pitch.

“It surprised me as well especially the direction which it took. But these things happen in our African football. It’s unfortunate we could not convert our chances, but I thought we were the better side especially in the first half.

“Our main problem is that we are failing to convert the chances we are creating. Overall, I am happy with the way we are playing and it’s now over for the Mbada Diamonds Cup. We now shift focus to the league and with the way we are playing we will do well,” Zuze said.

His counterpart, Bigboy Mawiwi said on the cat’s adventures: “I am a coach. I have played football, but have never seen that before, so I can’t comment.

But we knew it was going to be tough against Monomotapa. They have not beaten us before and it was never going to be easy. They dominated the first half, but we had to be patient and we maintained our shape,” Mawiwi said.

Charles Rukwanhi had a good opportunity and could have thrust Monomotapa into the lead on 23 minutes after collecting a pass from Morgan Mungombe, but his effort went straight into the hands of the keeper.

Ronald Chitiyo pounced on the rebound, but his effort was blocked again.