NO AFCON CHANCE FOR SIHLANGU

MBABANE – The Eswatini nation must not have false hope that the national team Sihlangu can still make its maiden AFCON qualification this year.

Forget that Tunisia, who are already qualified, along with new hosts Egypt in Group J, are Sihlangu’s last opponents away on March 22, the change in hosting country has not presented the slightest of chances for Eswatini.

Head to head or none, Eswatini simply is out of it and will await the next qualifiers for the Africa Cup of Nations 2021. There have been misconceptions that after the Confederation of African Football handed hosting rights to group J leaders, Egypt, this would mean Sihlangu and Niger were back in the competition to qualify for the continental soccer showpiece.

Sihlangu are last in the group with one point while Niger have four on third but were all eliminated even before the final fixtures. Niger host Egypt while Sihlangu travel to Tunisia, all tough games for both countries to expect anything like a win.

“The rules are clear from the onset that only 24 countries qualify to play in the finals of the tournament including the host country. In our case, even if Egypt were fourth or third, it would still be them going through as hosts and the next best placed team in group. That is the spirit of the AFCON – to qualify on the pitch,” explained Eswatini Football Association’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Frederick Mngomezulu.

Mngomezulu said there was no way the tournament rules could be breached in the middle of the qualifiers and Eswatini, as well as Niger, remained out of the continental football showpiece.

“If we were to have a chance, then it would mean 25 countries in finals, which is impossible as only 24 of the 48 countries competing in the 12 groups must make it to Egypt,” he said.

Meanwhile, after CAF announced Egypt as the new host following Cameroon being stripped due to a delay in preparations, some international media, including South Africa’s City Press and Eswatini Broadcasting and Information Services (EBIS) in their news on Tuesday evening, reported that Sihlangu and Niger had something to play for after this development.

However, even under the circumstances they cited, head-to-head, both countries do not qualify but if they did, it would still be Niger going through along with Tunisia while Egypt would go on automatic qualification.

Niger would be advantaged as the head to head rules of CAF in this tournament only look at results between the two affected parties unless there are more two tied countries in a group. That head to head tie-breaker would see Niger go through after they beat Eswatini at Mavuso Sports Centre and have a better goal difference.

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