FAIR CAF DRAW FOR ‘BIRDS’, BUFFALOES

MBABANE – The country’s CAF club competitions envoys, Mbabane Swallows and Young Buffaloes, have been handed familiar territories to manoeuvre next year.

This follows a draw for the both the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup which pitted them against Bantu F.C of Lesotho and South Africa’s Cape Town City, respectively.

The capital city giants, who are still savouring the lofty heights scaled during the 2017 CAF Champions League, will start away in Lesotho against the two-time champions, coached by former Bloemfontein Celtics and Orlando Pirates right back James Madidilane.
The first leg has been tentatively set for the first week of February with the second leg a week later.

While Swallows will be away to Bantu F.C, Dominic Kunene will lead his charges at home against Bennie McCarthy’s Cape Town City in the first leg, which is likely to be at Somhlolo National Stadium or Mavuso Sports Centre.

Both teams have a chance to advance further if they seize their opportunities, as Swallows are likely to face Zanaco F.C or Gambia AF, before reaching the group stages of the competition.
For Young Buffaloes, if they beat Cape Town City, they will play the winner of the tie between Costa Do Sol of Mozambique against Galaxy of Botswana.

Swallows coach Thabo ‘Koki’ Vilakati welcomed the draw as fair, but was quick to assure that his opponents deserved some respect by virtue of having made it to this competition.
“They have earned their place in the competition and that means they should not be taken for granted. The expectation is from the nation for us is to do better than we did in the CAF Confederation Cup. We are cognisant of that and we will push as a team,” he said.
He lamented though that the injury of star striker Sabelo ‘Sikhali’ Ndzinisa and departure of midfield hard man Pappy Tshitshimbi have affected their rhythm.   

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