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COSAFA CUP CANCELLED

03/10/2020 09:31:00 BY THEMBA ZWANE

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MBABANE – It is now official.

The annual COSAFA Cup has become another casualty of COVID-19. This follows that the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) on Thursday cancelled the annual SADC football competition due to unforeseen challenges.

Even though COSAFA has cancelled the men’s senior challenge, there is still hope for the other COSAFA events.

Countries like Namibia, through their football associations, have already confirmed the cancellation of the annual showpiece.

According to the Namibian, Namibia Football Association acting secretary general Franco Cosmos on Thursday confirmed the news to the Namibia Football Association’s website, nfa.org.na

“The COSAFA Cup was supposed to take place in early October, but due to unforeseen circumstances, it has been cancelled. So now we will go to South Africa for our friendly against Bafana Bafana and then come back home to prepare for the AFCON qualifiers in November,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) has also confirmed the news through Marketing and Communications Officer Muzi Radebe.

“We have received the correspondence from COSAFA informing us of the decision to cancel the COSAFA Cup,” said Radebe briefly.

challenge

Last month, COSAFA announced it was considering staging the 2020 edition of its flagship men’s senior challenge Cup in October.

Although the regional football organisation did not mention the hosts of this year’s tournament, the last three editions have been held in South Africa.

COSAFA was expected to use FIFA’s October 7 to 15 international period to accommodate its flagship tournament.

Sihlangu’s head-coach Dominic Kunene said they were happier when playing football but admitted that the cancellation of the COSAFA Cup will work in their favour.

“We are people of football. We love playing football but for our case, this is a blessing in disguise,” said the coach.

Kunene added that the cancellation of the tournament will help give them more time to prepare for other upcoming tournaments.

“Nothing has been said by government so far in starting preparations. There is nothing as sad as going to play a tournament having not prepared,” said the coach. He said they will now have a chance to go and prepare well.

deliberating

On the other hand, Chairman of the National Supporters Menzi Dladla said they had been deliberating on the matter in their WhatsApp group.

“It is sad. We have resolved to fully support the national team. We do not care much about results for now but the support is important,” he said.

Dladla further mentioned that it was disappointing now that they will not be watching the nation’s pride play which he said was frustrating but accepted that there was nothing they could do if it was as a result of COVID-19.

Long-serving Sihlangu captain Nhlanhla Gwebu said it was really sad to learn of the news as they had wished to go and play.

“It’s really sad my brother. We wished to go play and leave a mark, perhaps come back with something,” said the goalie.

He added that there was nothing they could do with the spread of COVID-19 but it was really sad.