Home | Sports | ‘SAVIOLA’ BLOW FOR SIHLANGU

‘SAVIOLA’ BLOW FOR SIHLANGU

26/07/2019 03:41:00 BY CHRIS DLAMINI

Font size:

LOBAMBA – His all-important away goal in Malawi took Eswatini’s senior national soccer team Sihlangu Semnikati to Sunday’s clash against Angola.

That is Young Buffaloes gifted attacking midfielder Sandile ‘Saviola’ Gamedze, who scored in the 1-all draw in the preliminary round of the African Nations Championships (CHAN) 2020 Qualifiers. The first leg score had been goalless.

However, Gamedze will be missed in Sunday’s first leg clash at home with Angola on Sunday afternoon at Mavuso Sports Centre in Manzini. Kick-off is at 3pm.

He was confirmed off this match by the head coach in Serbian Kostadin Papic during yesterday’s media day at the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) Technical Centre in Lobamba. Papic said they also had three others being captain and defender Banele ‘Makonose’ Dlamini, defender Linda Mkhonta and midfielder Sifiso Matse under close monitoring for a timely recovery.

“I’m happy with our preparations and the players’ attitude, but we also have some injuries with some players like Sandile who is off this game, Banele, Sifiso and Linda who are all being monitored for a timely recovery. We hope they will be ready as we still have two training days to see how they recover,” he said.
Papic was however, optimistic that they were ready for Angola who he conceded once again that they were a tough opposition with history on their side which made Sihlangu underdogs.

“We’re going to fight. I know AFCON is more important to the players but we have to focus on Angola now, get the result and look at the next game. It’s got to be one game at a time and once we’re done with Angola, there’s Zambia next then the AFCON Qualifiers and World Cup qualifiers. Our goal is to try and win every match now and when we go to Angola that’s what we’ll want to do as well,” he said.

support

Papic appealed for the nation’s support on Sunday.
“A full stadium will help us beat Angola. The players are ready and some of those injured should also be ready. Just pack the stadium and support us as we’re going out to fight,” he appealed.

He insisted that he was not worried about Angola but focused on preparing his team to play the way it should and that instead, he ‘was a million per cent sure’ Angola also had no idea how they were playing as they cannot be where they were last year. He said there was nothing special about Angola in their preparations except that they were working to win.

Meanwhile, the injured Gamedze watched the training session from the side-lines while the other trio all took part and looked comfortable and hopeful to be available for selection. On his injury, he said he pulled a muscle but will be fine for the second leg according to the squad’s medical team. He also expressed confidence on the team to do well come Sunday.