Africa-Press – Eswatini. The much-anticipated Sihlangu and other national teams Indaba will be held after the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers. The revelation was made by Eswatini Football Association (EFA) President Peter ‘Samora’ Simelane, when asked to shed light on when the summit would be hosted, amid the poor run of form Sihlangu is in. The Dominic Kunene-led troops suffered defeats in the two games they have played, losing 1-0 and 2-0 to Libya and Cape Verde respectively.
The president announced, during the ordinary general assembly, that they would take a giant leap to end the disastrous performance of the national teams on the big stages. He announced plans to convene a summit of their members to discuss and establish national teams’ development strategies. Members of the EFA are the four regional football bodies, the Premier League of Eswatini (PLE), referees, coaches and women’s football.
Simelane when contacted yesterday revealed that all attention would be shifted towards the summit after the World Cup qualifiers.
“We have been delayed by the World Cup qualifiers. The summit is in the pipeline, we will do it. We are just looking for a suitable time and it is a must-hold event,” Simelane said. He, however, said they were yet to decide on the format of the Indaba, views from every citizen of the country and football stakeholders would be welcome who want the improvement of the squads. ‘Samora’ also disclosed that among other agendas, once the international assignments had subsided, they would review Head Coach Kunene’s contract. The review was deferred last month.
“On the issue of the coach’s contract we are yet to meet as an executive and receive his reports,” he said. Some football experts and supporters have voiced out their expectations from the summit and have some tall orders for EFA which among them was allow the supporters to have a voice in the appointment of Sihlangu coaches.
Among those, who welcomed the initiative was the Eswatini National Supporters Committee (ENCA) Chairperson Menzi ‘Madlakadlaka’ Dladla, who said they would appreciate the opportunity to voice out their concerns as supporters of the national teams. “We would appreciate such an opportunity to voice out some of our concerns, we have suffered enough and it seems our cries fall on deaf ears. It is not about supporting per se, but supporting a dead body at times is not proper,” Dladla said.
Challenges
He said some of their burning challenges were the issues of the technical bench, which according to him, should incorporate junior national teams coaches. “There is a reason why there are Under-17s, 20s and 23s. These coaches must be the assistants of the senior team’s head coach. This will ensure that there is a single and unified philosophy of Sihlangu and transitioning of the players from these teams will be guaranteed,” he said.
He said this would curb incidents where players were selected into the national team willy-nilly without being seen if they would deliver.
“the issue of home ground could not be emphasized enough as the national team players will never reach their potential as they do not enjoy mass support from local fans and home ground advantage,” he said. On the other hand, Social and Recreational Games Eswatini (SARGE) President Nathi Dlamini said national teams needed a proper turnaround strategy and revealed that there was still hope with the performance of Sihlangu. “The first thing to do is to identify coaches who have hunger and have delivered exceptionally previously, locally and beyond the border, for the technical bench. We must adopt the format of Sibaya and let the shortlisted coaches campaign publicly during the summit on their promises,” Dlamini said.
Philosophy
He said some coaches do not have a coaching philosophy, which needed public vetting before being entrusted with national duties.
He further said the Sports Bill must pass through parliament, as it has taken more time or else, if it fails, it must be made mandatory for companies to fund teams from club level. “This will inspire the teams as players will not only strive to play locally, but beyond the border, which will increase the pool of international players,” the SARGE president said.
Apart from the poor start to the qualifiers for Sihlangu, the national women’s Under-20s bowed out of next year’s FIFA Junior Women’s World Cup with an 8-1 trouncing on aggregate by Ghana. Meanwhile, the senior women’s national team Sitsebe was knocked out of the 2024 Women Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) Qualifiers by Burkina Faso in September.
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