Busy schedule for Sihlangu as CAF changes AFCON dates

MBABANE – A busy schedule awaits the country’s national team, Sihlangu following changes in the biannual Africa Cup of Nations dates.

The Confederations of African Football (CAF) has announced that after the 2012 AFCON to be hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, the next tournament will be held a year later in Libya.

And that means the quali-fiers for the next AFCON would be held in early 2012, but CAF is yet to issue full details on the 2013 qualifiers that are set to include qualification for the World Cup 2014 to be hosted by Brazil.
The decision means the Nations Cup will no longer be held in the same year as the World Cup, one reason given is the poor performance of the African teams at the World Cup.

Information sourced from the CAF online states that the changes will see the AFCON staged in odd years, meaning that after 2013 the next edition will be in 2015. The CHAN tournament will be held in even years.

The National Football Association of Swaziland (NFAS) CEO Frederick Mng-omezulu could not be reached for comments as his mobile phone rang unanswered for the better part of the day yesterday.

Sihlangu begins its 2012 qualifiers against Ghana in September at Somhlolo Stad-ium, before playing DRC away from home in October. The qualifiers would run up until October next year.

Swaziland was drawn against Ghana, Sudan and DRC in the qualification stage. Their first game will be in September.
Sihlangu is currently with-out a coach after the departure of South Africa’s Under 20 coach Ephraim ‘Shakes’ Mashaba early this month.
The NFAS is expected to announce a new coach soon.

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