Africa-Press – Eswatini. The Eswatini Football Association (EFA) was nearly left with an egg in the face after forgetting playing cards for Sihlangu players here at home.
Premier League clubs came to their rescue after giving the football mother body the player cards for the Sihlangu match against Botswana.
This was during Saturday’s CHAN Qualifiers first round clash against the Zebras in Francistown which ended in a goalless stalemate. The Sihlangu management had forgotten the cards in the country prior to their departure to Botswana last Tuesday.
The incident nearly caused the abandonment of the first leg match.
The Total Energies African Nations Championship (CHAN) is only played by locally-based players. The new CAF rules state categorically clear that national team players will now use their respective teams’ registration cards in the tournament. Highly-placed sources close to the football corridors of power revealed that the mother body ran helter-skelter shortly before the start of the match, contacting local clubs to forward the registration cards to the EFA office.
This publication has it in good authority that by 2pm a top EFA official, whose name is deliberately withheld, was scanning and emailed the players cards to Botswana on match day.
Cards
“The worst thing nearly happened on Saturday. The local delegation recalled during the pre-match that in the 2022 tournament, players will be using registration cards from their domestic teams. Local clubs were contacted a few hours before the match to forward the cards to the EFA office. Luckily, they managed to beat the deadline.
This shows that someone is not doing his job in the national team,” said the source. EFA Marketing and Communications Officer Muzi Radebe downplayed the matter. “There was no challenge regarding players’ cards as the match continued,” he said.
Meanwhile, the nation’s pride will face the Zebras in the second leg on Sunday at Orlando Stadium in South Africa.
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