SIHLANGU TO FACE WEAKENED SENEGAL SQUAD

MBABANE – The national team, Sihlangu will face a weakened Senegal team comprising mainly of local players.

Senegal announced their final 23 players who exclude their world stars yesterday. They start the tournament in the quarterfinal as they are among the highly-ranked countries. Senegal are regarded as among the powerhouses in Africa and currently ranked as the top team in the continent after lifting the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title for the first time in Cameroon earlier this year.

The squad comprises of local players. Some of their stars who are out of the tournament include Bayern Munich sensation Sadio Mane, Italy’s Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly, Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and PSG’s Ismaila Sarr, among others. The ‘Teranga Lions’ as they are affectionately known in football circles, reached the final, only to lose on penalties to hosts South Africa last year. They are the first guest nation to appear in two COSAFA tournaments in a row and will be desperate to turn silver into gold.

The two sides will be meeting for the fourth time in four years. They played twice in the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Group stage qualifiers with Senegal emerging 4-1 victors on November 17, 2019 winners here at home, with Sihlangu forcing a one-all draw away in Dakar on March 30, 2021. They also faced each other in last year’s COSAFA Cup when Senegal won 5-2 after penalties. The game had ended 2-all after regulation time. Sihlangu finished top of Group B that featured Malawi, Lesotho and Mauritius. They qualified for the quarterfinals after finishing top of the group.

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