Home | Sports | PAPY SUSPENDED FOR AZAM CLASH

PAPY SUSPENDED FOR AZAM CLASH

Font size: Decrease font Enlarge font

MBABANE – It is a headache enough that Mbabane Swallows have a 1-0 deficit to overturn on Sunday but to be without their mercurial midfield maestro Papy Tshishimbi is another story.


Swallows will be without the key midfield man from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) through suspension – he accumulated his second yellow card of the tournament on Sunday when they gallantly lost 0-1 to Tanzania’s Azam in the first leg of the Total CAF Confederations Cup first round clash.


A late strike, at the 84th minute to be precise, sunk Umkhonto KaShaka but the players, supporters and nation at large can be proud of their performance in spite of reported hostility from the match officials.


It is now here at home, in the country’s soccer Mecca that Swallows have every chance to defy all odds and eliminate the much-sung about Azam FC who have beaten big opposition in CAF club tournaments both at home and away.


However, this will have to be achieved without the Ingwenyama Cup 2017’s Player of the Series who has been nabbed by the Total CAF Confederations Cup yellow card rule. It takes only two of them to get suspended for one match so Papy will return in play-off match if Swallows get there as expected now.


“I’m well aware of the situation and Papy will obviously be missed but we have a pool of players who can still do the job,” said his coach Thabo ‘Koki’ Vilakati upon arrival from Tanzania yesterday at the Ngwenya Border Gate.


The club’s acting CEO Sibusiso Manana confirmed the yellow card in Tanzania but said they would wait for the confirmation correspondence from the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Swallows returned yesterday after travelling by road from Johannesburg where their flight dropped them.

Comments (0 posted):

Post your comment comment

Please enter the code you see in the image: