6 FRESH ‘ZEBRAS’ FOR SIHLANGU CLASH

MBABANE – Eswatini’s African Nations Championship (CHAN) 2022 Qualifiers first leg away clash against Botswana’s Zebras will not be any easy.

‘The Zebras’ who are meeting Sihlangu (Eswatini senior national football team) for the second time in less than a fortnight after beating them 2-0 in the Plate Competition semifinal in Durban, South Africa, have strengthened their squad ahead of the match. They have brought in six fresh players as this tournament is only for domestic stars. Contrary to their Eswatini rivals who retained 20 members of their COSAFA Cup 2022 team that failed in the quarterfinals against semifinalists Senegal, Botswana will be having at least half a dozen fresh legs.

Draining

This is after an energy draining COSAFA Cup edition that started with a tough group against Seychelles, Comoros and Angola before losing to Zambia in the quarterfinals. Killer Pass, Botswana Football’s Premium Plug reported on its Facebook page yesterday that the Zebras have added six new call ups. These are Mothusi ‘Lefty’ Johnson (Gaborone United), Gape ‘Abidal’ Mohutsiwa (Jwaneng Galaxy), Thero ‘Mahachi’ Setsile (Gaborone United), Lesenya ‘Black Cat’ Malapela (Orapa United) and Thabang ‘Kgosi Kgolo’ Theron (Nothwane).

The Zebras, who have not lost against Eswatini in 19 years, host Sihlangu at the Obed Itani Chilume Stadium at 4pm on Saturday.
They go into the match with a favourable result and reputation against Eswatini, who have improved and missed a host of chances to take out Botswana in the Plate semis last Friday in Durban. Sihlangu lost the Plate semifinal match without the services of its Captains in Lindo Mkhonta and Sabelo ‘Sikhali’ Ndzinisa due to injury for the latter.

Progress

The winner in the two-legged qualifier will progress to the second round to meet the victor between islanders Seychelles and Madagascar in September. Then from there, if the two legs are won, Sihlangu will be through to their maiden CHAN finals in Algeria next year. Both countries have only managed to go as far as the second round in this competition. No immediate comment could be obtained from Sihlangu Head Coach Dominic Kunene but had said in their farewell bidding function at Eswatini Football Association (EFA) Technical Centre in Lobamba on Wednesday, that they were looking ahead to a new challenge and they were going there to fight and do better than the last game.This time, he has both Sikhali and Mkhonta available to start the match.

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