TOUGH MOZ TEST FOR ESWATINI

LUSAKA – Before jetting in at this hotter-than-hell land of Kenneth Kaunda in ungodly hours on Tuesday evening, Eswatini National Under-20 head coach Dominic Kunene must have spent the one hour, 45 minutes flight from Johannesburg to Lusaka reading the in-flight magazine ‘Sawubona’ to while away time.

But a sneak preview into the latest offering by Jeremy Daniel piece of work, ‘Siya Kolisi, Against all odds’, would have sharply reminded him of the task at hand that awaits his young battalions today in the start of Group C games of the 2019 COSAFA Under-20 Youth Championships. Eswatini take on tough-as-teak Mozambique in the first game of Group C at the modest Sunset stadium. Kick-off time is 10am.

Arranged

According to the format of the 26th edition of the annual tournament, the teams are arranged in three groups, in which only the top finishers of each and the second-best of all go to the semi-finals. Kunene’s charges have been paired in the same group with highly rated Angola and Seychelles. The former tore Seychelles to shreds with a 8-0 win here yesterday. Eswatini’s first match against the ‘Young Mambas’ who lost to South Africa’s Amajita in the finals in 2008, will test the resolve of Kunene’s team. The intensity of the squad’s preparations will come under serious scrutiny after only playing two preparatory matches against high-flying Mbabane Swallows and Manzini Sea Birds, which ended in stalemates.

Meanwhile, their opponents this morning have played as much as four games in the last month, recording three wins and a defeat. Mozambique coach, Dario Monterio is confident of a perfect start for his team as alluded by his assistant coach, Mauro Jamal. “We had a month-long job that was divided into three phases. The first consisted in identifying and selecting athletes.

Instill

In the second stage, we tried to convey our game philosophy with regard to some game moments that we think are important to instill in players. The third and final phase was pre-competitive, where we focused on control games. We are pleased with how the team responded positively and hope to enter the tournament at full-strength,” said Mauro Jamal. Mozambique in the tournament last year had to leave for home early with one win and two losses having been in the same group as eventual champions South Africa and guest team, Egypt.

Defensive

Twinkle-toed striker Simone Pita Cipriano is expected to lead the forays for the ‘Young Mambas’ and the defensive triumvirate of Mlondi Dlamini, Maseko Siphamandla and Innocent Ndzinisa have to be at their best to keep the precocious talent at bay. Eswatini’s poor record of having exited the tournament in the first round in the last 13 years – having not won a single match between 2004 and 2016 – is what coach Kunene has promised to overturn this time around. Last year’s mind-blowing 4-0 losses to both Mauritius and South Africa also meant another early shower in a shortened three-team group.

Kunene has vowed to create history by winning the tournament and he will be pinning hopes on the talented Moneni Pirates starlet Lizwe Zwane who has set the Eswatini Premier League alight with his goal-scoring ability which far belies his age. The odds are stacked against Eswatini but the progress made by the Under-17 squad which reached the semi-finals of the COSAFA tournament bring hope that they could spring a surprise in this year’s tournament.

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