ESWATINI BOW OUT OF THE TOTALENERGIES U20 AFCON | COSAFA QUALIFIERS
The Eswatini U20 Men’s National Team has bowed out of the on-going TotalEnergies U20 AFCON | COSAFA Qualifiers 2024 after playing a goalless draw with Botswana in a very physical match that was played on Monday afternoon in Matola, Mozambique. Both national teams displayed a lot of aggression as they competed for the second place in Group A with the hope of being the second-best runners-up to stand a chance of progressing to the semi-finals of the competition.
It was Eswatini that could have won the match after failing to convert a penalty in the 85th minute after Malwande Gwebu as adjudged to have been fouled in the box. Alakhe Mdluli was tasked in putting the ball in the back of the net from 12 yards; however, his effort was saved by Frank Seleke and the follow-up was fruitless as Eswatini could not convert the rebound. This marked the end f the road for Eswatini which was the similar case in 2022 when they were hosting this competition.
Head Coach
The Eswatini U20 National Team Head Coach, Mduduzi Nxumalo sited the toughness of the match and the closure of their flanks as their downfall in not locating the back of the net. “It was a difficult match for both sides as we knew each other very well having played an international friendly match before the draw for this competition was executed. They also did their homework very well as they closed our flanks very well which were our strongest link when going forward”, Nxumalo said.
As a positive, the head coach stated that this is a young team with a positive future as about ten players will still be eligible to play in the next edition. “The future is bright as about ten players will be available for next year’s edition”, Nxumalo said.
