‘SIHLANGU HAVE TO START AFRESH’

MBABANE – They will have to start afresh! The COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak will have serious effects on Sihlangu players when football matches resume.

This is according to the national team head coach, Dominic Kunene, who said it takes time for players to get fully fit after such situations.

In an exclusive interview with the Times Sports Desk, the respected coach said they would follow the advice and guidance of the government and health experts because human life was important and must be prioritised.

However, the coach highlighted that in all honesty, the outbreak of the virus had disrupted their plans and was a major setback.

Patient

“The life of the players and all other people must be put first. We will be patient and wait for instructions and guidance from the government and health experts.
“However, if truth be told, the COVID-19 will seriously affect us when international games return as it takes time conditioning a player’s muscles,” said Kunene.

Nonetheless, the former Young Buffaloes mentor further disclosed that they were hopeful that the situation would not be too bad as the national team players were trained on how to maintain physical fitness while at home.

Kunene also indicated that the national team mostly relied on the players’ respective teams in as far as football activity was concerned for fitness due to the fact that that was where they spend most of the time and would only be with the national team for shorter periods of time when they were preparing for an international assignment.
“The national team relies mostly on teams’ activity.

Fitness

“Teams will do fitness tests and help them (players) get back to shape and when they are called for duty at national team level, the payers will most likely have recovered and fit,” said the coach.
Kunene also noted that the league had to stop when it was at its peak and this meant they will have to start afresh all over again as the players had lost fitness.

“Should we have not encountered the COVID-19 crisis, the job would have been very easy for the national team technical bench as players were fit and ready for action,” Kunene said.

Meanwhile, Congo-Brazzaville head coach Valdo Candido had named his final 23-member squad for the qualifiers against Eswatini for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals billed for Cameroon in 2021 before CAF suspended all regional tournaments following the threat of the coronavirus.

The nation’s pride had to play against Congo-Brazzaville on March 21, 2020 away from home before the return fixture on March 30 at the Mavuso Sports Centre.
The Dominic Kunene-led charges were to then play Senegal in a reverse fixture of the same tournament later this year.

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