TRAINING BAN WILL HURT - NHLANHLA

MBABANE – Young Buffaloes captain Nhlanhla Gwebu has come to declare that lack of proper training will have a negative effect ahead of their vital CAF Confederation Cup game next month.

This is after the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) warned teams including the army giants, who are the only country’s CAF envoys, to adhere to the partial lockdown regulations by not taking part in group training.

Buffaloes will play Tunisia giants Etoile du Sahel on Valentine’s day at Mavuso Sports Centre in the first leg of this continental tournament, with the second leg taking place on February 21 away in Tunisia.

“I think the training ban will have a negative impact on our preparations because we are playing a top team in Africa. Our opponents are not on lockdown and are having back-to-back games while we are not allowed to train as a group,” Gwebu said.

“At the same time, we cannot really blame government for banning gatherings since the start of the second wave. Right now people are dying and life is more important than football, which makes it a complex situation,” said Gwebu.

Individual

He then encouraged his teammates to do individual training while they wait for government to review the situation after 14 days. Asked about reports that their Tunisia opponents have fired their coach ahead of their meeting, the experienced goalkeeper chose a cautious approach.

“Well Etoile firing their coach gives no advantage to us. The open secret is that they are good especially on paper as they are ranked 8th in Africa and have won this trophy before, we just need to work extra hard. We should not read too much into the story of their coach being fired because they still have good players,” he said.

He also highlighted that the return of Wandile ‘Skosh’ Shabangu and Siboniso ‘Gaxa’ Ngwenya was a major boost ahead of their playoff game. He added that they were hoping to have a full squad in their first game of the playoffs.

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