By GRACE CHAILE and KALUMIANA KALUMIANA  –
THREE-TIME Barclays Cup champions, Zesco United have been drawn against 2012 winners Napsa Stars in the semi-finals to be played on October 18 at the Arthur Davies Stadium in Kitwe.
The other semi-final will see Zambian league champions Nkana taking on nemesis Konkola Blades in the double header semi-finals in Kitwe to be beamed live on SuperSport.
Zesco, winners of the inaugural competition in 2007, 2008 and 2010, face Napsa in an early kick off at 12:45 hours before Nkana, twice semi-finalists in 2007 and 2011, take on Blades, the 2011 runner-up, in a 15:00 hours kick-off.
Winners of this year’s K2 million rich competition will walk away with K250,000 while the runners up will pocket K150,000. Coach and Player-of-the-tournament pocket K10,000 and K5,000 respectively.
To reach the last four, Zesco ejected ‘Mighty’ Mufulira Wanderers winning 2-0, Napsa beat Lusaka Dynamos 1-0, Nkana beat archrivals Power Dynamos 2-0 while Blades ‘sliced’ 1-0 past Zanaco.
Meanwhile, Blades coach Enos Silwimba said the match against Nkana will be tough despite beating the later 1-nil on September 3 at Konkola Stadium in Chililabombwe in a FAZ Super League Week 17 fixture.
“I know we beat them in the league but that game is gone. We have to work extra hard so that we can beat Nkana.It won’t be an easy game it will be tough,” Silwimba said.
Nkana captain Sydney Kalume said they were determined to make their first final appearance.
“It is another new game so we have to fight hard. Our target is to reach the final,” Kalume said.