We are down to the final four in this season’s FISD Challenge Cup, with two mouth-watering ties in store for the football fans.
The 2019 FISD Challenge Cup semi-finals get underway this weekend with two fixtures split over two days.
The first semi-final will see last year’s runners-up Silver Strikers traveling to Civo Stadium to play Blue Eagles on Saturday afternoon.
The last meeting between the two sides in the knockout competition was in 2018 in the Airtel Cup from which Eagles came out top with a 1-0 victory in the two legged affair.
However, the Bankers have shown tremendous improvement especially in cup competitions, with their latest achievement being a 1-0 Airtel Cup final win over Karonga United.
With the TNM Super League out of their sight, the Area 47 side will now focus on winning another cup in less than four months.
Abbas Makawa’s men, who were runners up in 2018 after giving away a 2-1 lead to lose 3-2 to Be Forward Wanderers, will go for the kill in order to progress to the finals for the second time running.
In the previous round, Silver Strikers needed penalties to beat Nyasa Big Bullets and book their spot in the last four.
However, the Bankers are playing Eagles at a very wrong time, as the Area 30 based side is enjoying massive form in the ongoing season.
With in-form Schumaker Kuwali, Blue Eagles will be very difficult to contain and any mistake at the back will see the visitors collecting the ball in the net more.
The Police owned side reached this level with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Moyale Barracks at the same venue.
As with Hangover United, Kamuzu Barracks also needed a 2-1 victory to be where they are in the competition.
They ousted Ntopwa FC in the quarterfinal stage in their attempt to take their number of FISD Cup trophies to two.
The only side that has won the trophy amongst the four teams, the military side would fancy their chances against another rookie, in the name of Hangover FC, from Southern Region Football Association’ Premier Division.
However, the rookies stunned Malawi’s Cup kings and defending champions, Be Forward Wanderers with a historical 2-1 win at Kamuzu Stadium and they would dream of beating the former champions to reach the final of the competition.
What makes this encounter interesting is the fact that both teams have never played each other in any competition.
The winner will walk away with a trophy and a K20 million in prize money, with the runners up being compensated with K7 million.
Regional teams, including Hangover, who are the only side from the second tier competition to reach this level, already pocketed K300 000 from the sponsors.
On Friday, the sponsors dressed all the semifinalists ahead of the games.
