IT’S ALL FOR PRIDE AGAINST SENEGAL TONIGHT

MBABANE - Sihlangu has nothing to lose in this one and that should be motivation enough to go all out and fight for a win.

The nation’s pride will be up against one of Africa’s heavyweights when they clash against Senegal’s ‘Lions of Teranga’. They obviously come to this match as underdogs and with a low morale following a 1-3 defeat here at home on Friday at the hands of a merciless Guinea Bissau who still have high hopes of qualifying for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals next year in Cameroon. If Dominic Kunene’s troops are to stand a chance of winning this one, they should treat the game as a new challenge altogether and forget the 1-4 defeat on November 17, 2019, at the Mavuso Sports Centre in the first-leg. Obviously it will be a mamonth task for the locals since having already qualified for the finals of the AFCON next year will not make winning the match for Aliou Cisse any less important. Kunene was appointed as Sihlangu head coach in December 2019 while Cisse took charge of Senegal in 2015 following the sacking of Amara Traore.

Advantage

The time frame in which both coaches have been with the national teams will tell one that the home team will be at an advantage as their coach has had more years to instil his philosophy and for the players to comprehend it. In actual fact, all odds are against Sihlangu, but the interesting fact with football is that it is not played on paper, but in the field of play. Most of Senegal’s players ply their trade in Europe which include Liverpool’s Sadio Mane who gave Sihlangu a hard time in the first-leg at Mavuso Sports Centre. Cisse handed Pape Matar Sarr, Abdou Diallo and Nampalys Mendy their debuts for the Lions of Teranga against Congo Brazzaville during their goalless draw on Friday and he hoped they improve ahead of their clash with Sihlangu.

The coach was quoted by Supersport saying Nampalys and Abdou Diallo have never played in Africa and they had just discovered the realities of African football which was something to salute. Obviously these players will want to win the coach’s trust and this will be at the expense of Sihlangu. Kunene, on the other hand, has openly disclosed that they were not worried about big names as it will be 11 against in 11 in the field of play. Sihlangu’s hopes will be on the likes of Felix Badenhorst, the all-time top goal scorer for Sihlangu with 13 goals and 34 caps. Felix scored the lone goal on Friday in the 1-3 loss to Guinea Bissau.

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