Young Buffaloes face Tunisian’s Etoile du Sahel in the CAF Confederation Championship preliminary round 3.
Young Buffaloes have been drawn against Etoile du Sahel in a draw held yesterday in the CAF offices . Amathole were relegated into the Confederation’s Cup after being trashed 6-3 by AS Vita in the Champions’ League.
According to https://www.transfermarkt.com, Etoile du Sahel have won 4 CAF Confederations’ Cup, a single Champions’ league and two trophies of CAF Super Cup. Young Buffaloes on the other side have never passed through the preliminary rounds in both CAF Champions and Confederation League.
Etoile du Sahel players pose with the CAF trophy. Get images.com
Etoile du Sahel come as the toughest opponents of Amathole and surely this were not the opponents Young Buffaloes were looking forward to be drawn against.
Amathole Ezinyathi Chief Executive Officer Sandile Gwebu speaking on national radio yesterday morning said they would be proud not to be drawn against West African teams since they become a hard nut for Buffaloes to crack.
How did Buffaloes reach Confederations’ Cup?
Eswatini only CAF envoys Young Buffaloes are the only team representing the country in the continental tournament. They were given the ticket to participate in the CAF Champions’ League after they were crowned champions of the 2019/2020 MTN League as they were at the summit of the log table when it was abandoned and never completed with 8 games to go.
Young Buffaloes were first drawn against Burundi’s Le Messeger de Ngozi where they won on the first preliminary round with an away goal rule advantage after they played a 1-1draw on aggregate score.
From there, they were fixtured against Congo’s AS Vita who trashed Amathole 6-3 on aggregate. By virtue of playing in the Champions’ league, they were demoted to the Confederation cup when they lose on Wednesday where they face du Sahel .
Will Buffaloes honour this CAF fixture?
It remains uncertain whether Amathole will be able to play this game following that most countries have effected lockdowns to control the widespread of COVI-19.
Likewise, the Eswatini has also announced a partial lockdown effective today stretching for two weeks.
This means that there will be no top flight football in the immediate future in the country as per a statement released by Premier League of Eswatini yesterday afternoon cancelling all football fixtures locally.
According to The South African, there is also a pending case forced by COVID-19 governments’ regulations between Bloemfontein Celtic from South Africa and Riversigeria required that they be quarantined for 7 days before the game. The case is still pending with CAF.
What are fans saying about Buffaloes CAF performance?
It is clear that fans feel that Amathole embarrassed local football especially with the AS Vita game. In both legs, Amathole conceded goals in the elapsing minutes of the games.
In the first match played at Mavuso Sports Centre on 21st December last year, AS Vita levelled the boards to 2-2 in five minutes before the 90th minute mark.
Again, in the second leg played at Kinshasa Stadium in Congo, AS Vita scored their first goal at the 71st minute of which the game ended in a 4-1 in favour of hosts. Interestingly, there were two goals that were scored within three minutes by former Mbabane Swallows striker Glody Lilepo for AS Vita at 76th and 79th minute.
In a discussion which dragged for almost the whole day yesterday in Soccer Channel Eswatini WhatsApp group, one fan believed that Buffaloes ought to have qualified for CAF Champions’ League groups stages on the allegations that they do not struggle with any resources as a security force team having a resource back-up from government.
One fan then refuted this assertion saying that resources are not only enough but desired results come with:
- Quality players
- Infrastructure
- Good management
- The standard and level of football
Soccer Channel Eswatini 