TOUGH AFCON DRAW FOR SIHLANGU

MBABANE – Sihlangu have to swim with the sharks in chase of a spot in the finals of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cameroon.

With the curtain falling on the eventful 2019 edition in Egypt tonight, after the decider between Senegal and Algeria, focus shifts to the 2021 instalment.
According to pairings made in Cairo, Egypt after a CAF General Assembly last night, the national football outfit will face one of tonight’s finalists, Senegal, and the unpredictable duo of Guinea-Bissau and Congo, in the group stages of the qualifiers set to begin later this year.

All the opponents boast AFCON experience, with Congo reaching the quarter-finals in 2015. Guinea-Bissau are fresh from the 2019 tournament, where they were eliminated in the group stages.

Senegal’s ‘Lions of Teranga’ who parade England’s Liverpool celebrated superstar Sadio Mane, need no introduction.
They reached the quarter-finals of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Sihlangu (141) are the lowest-ranked team in the group according to the latest FIFA charts.

CAF released the draw on their official online media platforms that included Twitter last night.
Before the draw, the teams were put into pots according to their June 2019 rankings. Sihlangu were in pot four alongside Burundi, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, Lesotho, Botswana, Comoros and Ethiopia.

Pot one had Africa’s 12 giants Cameroon, Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, DR Congo, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Mali, Ivory Coast, and Algeria.
The last pot had lowly-ranked teams such as Liberia, Mauritius, Gambia, South Sudan, Chad, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles and Djibouti, who will start in the preliminary round in chase of a place in the group stages. The draw for this phase was also conducted last night.

Kostadin Papic’s men have been seeded from preliminary stage and join the qualifiers in the group stage.
When the draw was conducted, the teams were drawn randomly and faced the other sides from the other pots.
There are 12 groups of four teams each. The first two teams in each group at the end of the qualifying round will make it to the final tournament that will be hosted in 2021 by Cameroon.

reaction

In reaction to the draw, Papic conceded his troops were thrown into a lion’s den.
“It is a tough draw, especially because we will face Senegal and Congo. It is important to win the first match,” he said.
The preliminary round of the qualifiers will be played in October 2019, while the group stage will kick-off in November and will end in November 2020. Sihlangu still nurse hopes of qualifying for the first time, as 24 teams now make the cut.

Previously, it was a 16-team tournament. In the last qualifying campaign, they finished at the basement of the charts. They were in the same group as Niger, Tunisia and Egypt, with the North Africans making the cut.
Meanwhile, decisions expected to be made in last night’s meeting included the endorsing of one leg for the CAF inter-club tournaments as well as increasing the number of teams competing in Women AFCON from eight to 12. The decisions were expected to be announced late last night.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: