Africa-Press – Eswatini. Sihlangu…………… (0)1
Philani 60th
Senegal…………… (1)1
Camara 9th
(Senegal won 11-10 after penalty shootouts)
Penalty shootouts that looked like they would be taking eternity were finally decided on Sihlangu’s 10th kick when midfielder Mzwandile Mabelesa ballooned his attempt over the bar.
It was a nerve-wrecking shootout, the longest the COSAFA Cup has seen in history. Goalkeepers Sandanezwe Mathabela of Sihlangu and the Terenga Lions’ tall Aliou Faty never looked like saving any of the spot-kicks as both sets of players took turns in converting.
Mabelesa in all honesty did not inspire any confidence when he stepped up for Sihlangu’s 10th after Senegal’s second half substitute Ethene Tendeng piled all the pressure by converting his team’s tenth take.
God know why but this game should not have ended in the lottery penalty shootouts. Dominic Kunene’s charges should have finished this game as a contest inside 90 minutes.
It was a brave performance but somehow, Sihlangu’s stars had left their scoring boots at the spacious Garden Courts South Beach Hotel they are lodged in for the tournament. After Mathabela presented the West African guest nation the opener, it was all Sihlangu missing a chance after the other more than the times yours truly’s 64-year-old mother takes to insert a cotton fibre in a needle.
Harmless
In what looked like a harmless free kick, Sandanezwe was beaten 35-yards out on the near side pitch by Lamine Camara. The Mbabane Swallows goalkeeper buried his head in embarrassment. He should have easily dealt with that one considering the daring saves he made, not just in this game but since the first game on July 6.
In the 22nd minute, Sabelo ‘Sikhali’ Ndzinisa stretched the opponents’ defence with a trademark run on the channel, pulled the ball back for an unmarked Sandile ‘Saviola’ Gamedze but the match’s best player shot straight at goalkeeper Faty.
Left back Kwakhe Thwala surged forward with five minutes of the opening half remaining and squared for an unmarked Neliswa ‘Tiger’ Dlamini at the back post but with goal beckoning, the Manzini Wanderers midfielder shot over the bar from three yards out.
Two minutes after the recess, ‘Saviola’ Gamedze broke through but overcooked his chip over an advancing Faty as the ball sailed over the bar. ‘Sikhali’ had a diving header going wide from an inch perfect Sifiso Matse cross on the right. Goal scorer and game changer Philani Mkhonto did a decent job and the right thing pulling the ball back for ‘Sikhali’ but the tournament’s top scorer ballooned the ball over the bar.
A Sihlangu goal was not in sight and clearly, the ancestors had their backs on the team. Sandanezwe made sure the game went to penalty shootouts when he denied Cheikhou Ndiaye one-on-one in referee’s stoppage time in one of Senegal’s rare as a hen’s tooth attacks in this half.
Just like the previous edition at the Nelson Mandela Bay, the lottery penalty shootouts had to decide this tie.
Sihlangu will now fall in the second fiddle Plate Cup of the tournament and will face Botswana’s Zebras at the Sugar Ray Xulu Stadium tomorrow in a noon kick-off.
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