AC LEOPARDS GONE IN SIXTY MINUTES IN ‘BIRDS’ FURNACE!

LOBAMBA – Magical Mbabane Swallows left the Somhlolo National Stadium smelling like roses after scoring four goals in 52 minutes to overcome Congo’s AC Leopards and advance to the group stages of the CAF Confederations Cup for the first time ever.

Records on all fronts tumbled like a deck of cards as the magical, brilliant, irresistible and nonchalant ‘Birds’ rewrote history books by over-turning a 0-1 first leg tie defeat to storm into the group stages of the CAF Confederations Cup on a 4-3 aggregate score. It’s the first time a local team reached the group stages of the inter-club tournament under the new format having eliminated three teams in the process. Swaziland’s most successful club, Mbabane Highlanders had reached the quarter-finals in 1986, losing to Egypt’s Zamalek (formerly known as FC National) when the tournament did not have any group stages. Twice Royal Leopard have lost in the CAF Championship play-offs – in 2012 and 2015.

Untold scenes of jubilation engulfed the country’s soccer Mecca; the club’s Victor ‘Maradona’ Gamedze wept tears of joy at the Royal Box; scorer of the winner, Banele ‘Pupu’ Sikhondze ran half the length of the pitch to the far Western grand-stand where Swallows fans danced like nobody was watching. It was surreal. It was football justice well served after the abhorrent refereeing the red and white glamour side endured in Congo and CAF banning top striker Sabelo ‘Sikhali’ Ndzinisa on a spurious charge of allegedly breaking down a dressing room door.
It was breath-taking. Something out of the ordinary. It was something reminiscent of the unbelievable England’s Manchester United 2-1 win over Bayern Munich in 1999 when the ‘Red Devils’ scored two goals in referee’s optional time through substitutes, Teddy Sherringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Evocative

It was something evocative to England’s Liverpool’s penalty win from a 0-3 first half deficit against Italy’s AC Milan in Instabul in 2005. It was something equivalent to mighty Spain’s FC Barcelona come-from-behind win over French side PSG. Perhaps even more profound given that the visitors raced to a 2-0 first half lead – with Makiesse scoring in the 31st minute and Seda in the 14th minute - making it an almost unassailable 3-0 score on aggregate. At that moment, Somhlolo was quieter than many mortuaries around the country. You could have heard a penny from the guaranteed E3.4 million drop instantly.

But when the most decorated club captain, Tony ‘TT’ Tsabedze pulled one back five minutes before half-time, the belief was restored after having spurned countless goal-scoring opportunities. Then defender Sanele Mkhweli levelled matters in the 50th minute and the confidence grew ten-fold with over 5 000 fans inside the cauldron of football spearheading the players on the pitch. Midfield maestro, Banele ‘Pupu’ Sikhondze, the undoubted ‘man of the match’, found his mojo and when jersey number 11 is in the buzzing party mood, then certainly you know the honey-throated Swallows fans are on the guests list.

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