BY BHEKIMPILO WEZA
Chidobe Kachecheti Football League leaders Dragon Football Club avoided second placed and tournament favourites Masters in the Defence Forces Day Trophy draw conducted on Tuesday at Chidobe.
The two teams, who go into the US$1000 competition as favourites in top form in the league are expected to have an easy passage to the semi-finals and both will hope to top their respective group to avoid meeting each other on the road to Tuesday’s final.
Masters will play other four league giants’ with Lupinyo Bullets the only team that will give them sleepless nights before Saturday encounter.
They also have a tricky Mopane to go past, but it won’t be a hard job when they face league whiping boys Power Giants and youthful Ziyabaluma.
These are games that cannot be predicted, according to Masters coach Witness Muyulwa.
“l am happy with the draw, but cup games are not like league games where everyone wants to be in the final so it’s a do or die because small teams usually rise up on occasions like these,” Muyulwa said.
Masters will open their matches with an easy match against Power Giants early Saturday before taking Lupinyo Bullets later the same day, and will wind up their business on Sunday with two games against Ziyabaluma and Mopane.
Meanwhile, in Group B, log leaders DragonS will have to dig deep to win the group that has been dubbed the group of death, with hostS Zamalek, Ajax and the Legends all posing a threat .
There is no denying that DragonS are favorites, but with Ajax and Zamalek also in the group, fans are in for an exciting weekend at Borehole 36 village.
Zamalek will want to use home advantage to worry their opponents and they open the games with a tricky fixture against the Legends on Saturday morning before Dragons meet Ajax in a very important fixture in this group .
The curtain will come down on Sunday as Zamalek square up against Ajax in a local derby.
The two winners in each group advance to the semi-finals to be played on Monday en-route to the Tuesday final.
The winners will receive US$250 while the runners up will pocket US$200.
The third placed team will walk away with US$120 and US$80 for the fourth side.
Consolation prizes will be US$50 for all five teams eliminated from the first round.