EGYPT CLASH BECKONS FOR ESWATINI U-23S

LOBAMBA – Eswatini National Under-23s are 90 minutes away from facing Egypt in the TOTALEnergies AFCON Under-23 2023 Olympic Qualifiers.

The Sifiso ‘Nuro’ Ntibane-led charges made things easier for themselves as they beat Botswana 2-0 in an interesting first leg match played here yesterday. The local side visits Botswana next week Tuesday for the second leg. The winner on aggregate after the two-legged games will face Egypt in the second round of the preliminary round of the qualifiers. The AFCON 2023 under-23 Finals will be held in Morocco. Eswatini made the first attempt at goal eight minutes into the game, when Nsingizini Hot Spurs’ striker Sambulo ‘Masoso’ Simelane delivered a well weighted cross into the danger zone, but Thubelihle Mavuso failed to connect with the ball when it looked the easiest scoring chance.

Nuro’s charges continued to search for an early goal with Man of the Match in Moneni Pirates midfield maestro Bongiswa Dlamini, letting fly a cracker which narrowly went wide with Botswana goalkeeper Jovan Nikolic well beaten. This was before the locals eventually broke the deadlock a minute before half time, when Bongiswa unleashed a ground shot that rested on the far corner of the net, leaving Nikolic sprawled on the artificial turf from a resultant free kick.  

This was after Neliswa Dlamini was brought down at the edge of the box. The visitors’ only clear chance was a header from Godfrey Tauyatswala, who rose the highest from a telling cross delivered by Doctor David, which unfortunately missed the target. The host team continued where they had left off in the second half, doubling their lead three minutes into it. It was ‘Masoso’ who let fly a scorcher from just outside the box on a second attempt as Bandile Shabangu’s initial attempt was blocked. In a moment of wildness, Eswatini goalkeeper Nkosinathi Mathe nearly gifted the Tswanas a goal as he came out of his box to clear a harmless ball, but he miskicked it only for the marvellous centre-back Ndukuzempi Gamedze to his rescue him as he cleared the ball for safety before it crossed the goal line.

Zambian referee Hamalila Moonje blew his whistle to signal the end of the game. The Kwakhe Tfwala-captained side ended the jinx for Eswatini’s senior national team, Sihlangu who failed to beat their counterparts in three successive occasions. This was once in the 2022 Hollywoodbets COSAFA Championship and twice in African Nations Championship (CHAN) 2022 Qualifiers. Meanwhile, Eswatini mentor, Nuro said he was happy with the performance of the boys as they used the home ground advantage well and they played according to his instructions. “We created a lot of chances which we failed to utilise, but I can’t crucify my boys as this shows that we were attacking them,” Ntibane said.

Plan

He also said they were going back to the drawing board to plan for the second leg and finish off the business in Botswana next week Tuesday. The Tambankulu Callies gaffer said the plan was to avoid giving Botswana an away goal, which he said it happened as planned. His counterpart Kaelo Kaelo said both sets of players displayed a wonderful game of football, but unfortunately he was on the losing side. He said Eswatini had good young players who were very quick and well organised. He, however, said they were hopeful that back home they would reverse the deficit.
 

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