By Ntokozo Magongo
MBABANE – The Nationals football team’s being the Under-17 boys and girls left the country yon Monday for the for Boys’ TotalEnergies CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations/ COSAFA Qualifier and COSAFA Under-17 Girls’ Championship respectively.
The teams were bid farewell by the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) President Peter ‘Samora’ Simelane and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Frederick Mngomezulu at the Lobamba Technical Centre. The squad left the country for the tournaments to be played in Johannesburg from December 4 to 13, 2024.
Simelane urged the team to play to their level best and hoist the country’s flag high. He said they must always remember that they were representing the country and they are the future stars of the country in football.
Eswatini through the Under-17 girls will be making their long-awaited debut in this competition and will hope to make an immediate impression. They will now get the opportunity to provide international football for girls in this age-group, vital experience that will no doubt hold them in good stead as they develop through to the senior national team
They were drawn in group A were they will face Lesotho, Mozambique and Comoros. The COSAFA Under-17 Girls’ Championship also gets under way on Wednesday (December 4) as Eswatini take on Lesotho at 11am at the UJ AW Muller Stadium.
Meanwhile, the Under-17 Boys squad will be hoping to improve their fourth finish from four appearances in the CAF Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations / COSAFA Qualifier.
The country started participating in the tournament tin 2018 and it was eliminated in the group stages, 2019 they lost in the third-play-offs while in 2020, they were disqualified and back in 2021 to finish fourth and they were not part of the 2022 edition.
Eswatini have managed to reach the semifinals and finish fourth twice in the last four competitions played, which is a very good return. But mixed in there is a disqualification for not meeting eligibility requirements in 2020 and the fact they did not enter at all in 2022.
They will kick-off their campaign against Zimbabwe on Thursday (December 5) at the UJ AW Muller Stadium, kick-off noon.
They are in group B were they will face Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia.
