FLIGHTLESS ‘BIRDS’ ‘SWALLOWED’ BY TACTICALLY SAVVY TUNISIANS

Sports Editor
(At Mavuso Sports Centre)
MANZINI – Like a rabbit being dissected in a science laboratory test tutorial, a comatose Mbabane Swallows were pried open, sliced and marinated by a tactically savvy Tunisian side, Etoile Du Sahel, far more than the 3-0 scoreline suggests.

The 3-0 hammering, Swallows’ second worst CAF Champions league defeat after the 5-0 hammering at home by mighty South Africa’s Orlando Pirates on February 5, 2005, did little to mask the gulf in class between the 93-year-old Tunisian side and a tactically inept 70-year-old Swallows in a game the slightly over 2 000 home fans would like to forget in a hurry.

It was the worst performance by a disoriented Swallows side in living memory.
The visiting Lili Chiheb coached ‘Brigade rouge’ of Tunisia, did not even need to engage the second gear; never mind that they missed a catalogue of glittering chances that could have seen a tennis score as the home side played like they had been assembled an hour before kick-off time from the rendezvous off-season escapades.

As a team, Swallows did not know the meaning of the word; as a brand they were only colourful on the terraces but in the end, even some sections of their own fans left the modest stadium with as much as 15 minutes remaining as the stench of defeat lingered around the same venue where the country held its 50/50 celebrations.

Yesterday, the modest venue looked like an arena of nightmares. From as early as the 13th minute, the Tunisian side exploited Swallows porous-as-sieve Swallows defence, which provoked pity with each passing move by the visitors, when Karim Aquadhi headed unmarked on the near post. Goalkeeper, Sandanezwe Mathabela, shockingly chosen ahead of first choice Sandile ‘Nkomishi’ Ginindza, was caught in no-man’s-land all afternoon could do little to stop Maher Hannachi netting the second after a lapse in concentration from defender, Mandla Palma who had a nightmarish game. When substitute Amine Chermiti netted the third goal which bamboozled Malian second assistant referee, Drissa Kamory Niare and probably needed the intervention of the much-maligned Video Assistant Review (VAR), Swallows’ catalogue of management-by-crisis, player unrest and clear lack of fitness had come to the fore. There could be no spin-doctoring that all was well.

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