“Football is not for the faint hearted,” said the Senior Men’s National Team head coach, Dominic Kunene during the post-match interview at the Mbombela Stadium. The head coach was reacting on the loss of Eswatini in the expense of Cape Verde which was a TototalEnergies AFCOIN Qualifier match. Eswatini created numerous scoring opportunities which included a penalty but failed to find the back of the net. This result has dented the chances of the national team in as far as the qualification for the TotalEnergies AFCON 2023 Final is concerned.
The head coach also lamented this loss to the tactical discipline and professionalism of the Cape Verde players which also forced him to approach this match in a defensive mode and catching them on counter attacks. “The Cape Verde players are tactically good and very professional thus the decision to delay the full-backs in going forward and catching the on counter attacks. The is no way you can play an open game against a category A national team”, Kunene said.
Sihlangu is on the third position in Group B with 2 points and is yet to play against Togo (home match) and Burkina Faso (Away match).