Limbe Leaf are Mpico Socials champs
Limbe Leaf Tobacco socials football team are champions for the K1.9 million Mpico Social Football Cup following their triumph during the competition’s finals held at the Inspector General of Police ground in Area 30 over the weekend.
The men from Kanengo claimed the trophy after crashing Bunda Alumni Socials 3-0 in the final match through goals from Geoffrey Chilamba, Fikanawo Sichinga and Chisomo Mphwayimphayi.
Commenting on the victory, coach for the side Joseph Chikoko praised his charges for playing as a team.
“I am very happy and excited that we are the first team to win this cup. Our main secret has been team work and I thank the players for playing with a purpose,” said Chikoko, who also urged Mpico to continue sponsoring the cup.
His counterpart Osborne Tsoka blamed the defeat on fatigue.
“We accept the defeat but I am attributing it to fatigue. We had little time to rest in between our semi-final match and the final compared to our opponents. Limbe Leaf also have a big squad and they can afford to field two different teams,” said Banda.
To reach the final, Limbe Leaf defeated Old Mutual 4-1 while Bunda won 5-4 against Black Rhino on penalties after a two-all draw in normal play.
Black Rhino, who had musician Tay Grin, real name Limbani Kalirani on their staring line up went on to claim the third-place after defeating Old Mutual 3-2 in post-match penalties.
For winning the tournament, Limbe Leaf got a trophy and K250,000 cash from Mpico with the runners-up Bunda pocketing K175,000. Third-placed Black Rhino received K100,000 while Old Mutual walked away K75,000 richer.
Mpico managing director, Peter du Plessis, who presented the trophy expressed satisfaction with the way the tournament progressed, saying the company’s management would do a full assessment and decide the way forward.
“From a general point of view, I can say it has been a very good tournament. What has stood out for us is that there was good spirit amongst all the participating teams. We will do a review of the tournament and decide the way forward but I do not see why we should not do it again,” said du Plessis.
Follow and Subscribe Nyasa TV :
“Inspector General of Police Ground” what a name. Malawi sazatheka