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‘KOKI’: NOTHING MORE CAN MOTIVATE THESE PLAYERS

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NGWENYA – They have travelled the continent over, changed airlines like taxis and most importantly are well paid- Mbabane Swallows coach Thabo ‘Koki’ Vilakati feels there is nothing that can motivate his players now.


Vilakati led his visibly tired stars through the Ngwenya Border Gate yesterday afternoon at around 4pm, following their bittersweet journey in Algeria. Though the red and white glamour side went down 1-2 to MC Alger, hopes of a quarterfinal place in the intriguing Total CAF Confederation Cup were boosted by Group B basement side Platinum Stars draw with Tunisia’s CS Sfaxien in Rustenburg.


“Platinum Stars just opened the race for a second spot finish wide open. It is now in our hands again. We have to win our remaining two matches,” a hopeful Vilakati said.
Swallows will welcome CS Sfaxien next Sunday at Somhlolo National Stadium before travelling to neighbouring South Africa on July 7, in all important matches that will surely rekindle the dream of reaching the knockout stages. “I cannot fault my players in the MC Alger game, they did well though we started shaky, conceding in just the opening five minutes. We adapted and took the game to them thereafter but we received another sucker punch, conceding the second.

Wonder (Nhleko) had a one-on-one to bury later on and Pupu (Sikhondze) was hacked inside the big box but referees turned a blind eye in some of the chances that came our way. We had a determined second half and forced them to park the bus but we were unlucky in the few instances when we penetrated,” Vilakati added.


The country’s arguably most decorated coach also paid tribute to Njabulo ‘D4D’ Ndlovu’s treacherous 74th minute goal that reduced the deficit to 2-1, terming it a ‘gem’.
“Sometimes it is difficult to coach a successful team like Swallows; maybe because the players feel they deserve to be playing on a higher level now, have travelled the whole African continent and a flight does not appeal to them now and they are paid well. It makes it very difficult to motivate them,” Vilakati added before promising journalists a press conference early next week, to obviously talk more as he dashed to the departing team bus, leaving members of the fourth estate with open ended sentences.      

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