TIMELY BOOST FOR SIHLANGU ON FIFA CHARTS

MBABANE – Sihlangu are celebrating an improved rank ahead of their showdown with Angola on Sunday.

The two sides meet in an African Nations Championships (CHAN) Qualifier at Mavuso Sports Centre at 3pm. Rankings released by the world soccer governing body, FIFA, yesterday saw the national soccer outfit moving two places up the charts to occupy the 139th spot with 1 074 points.

According to the charts, Sihlangu are now 39th in Africa out of 54 football nations.
The last rankings were released last month. There is a shake-up on the charts this month following the recently-ended Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament, which was won by Algeria ahead of Senegal last week.

Meanwhile, Senegal who face Sihlangu in November in a 2021 AFCON qualifier, remain Africa’s top-ranked side. The latter are ranked 20th in the world. Other teams to play Kostadin Papic’s men in the qualifiers are Congo and Guinea-Bissau, who are ranked 91st and 123rd in the world, respectively. Guinea-Bissau are five places down.

Despite the shake-up, Sihlangu remain the lowest-ranked side among their AFCON qualifiers opponents.
Coach Papic celebrated the improved rankings, stressing that there was no looking back from here.

“It’s good. By the end of the year we should have achieved more,” he said.
The rankings have been released only four times this year. They are important in seeding for tournaments, especially qualifiers. Sihlangu avoided playing in the preliminary round of the 2021 qualifiers because of a ‘fair’ ranking. They hope for the same ‘favour’ during Monday’s 2022 World Cup Qualifiers draw.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: