Times Of Swaziland: ’DOWNS WERE JUST TOO MUCH FOR ‘BIRDS’ – ‘COOL CAT’

’DOWNS WERE JUST TOO MUCH FOR ‘BIRDS’ – ‘COOL CAT’
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Melusi Mkhabela on 17/09/2024 07:29:00


MBABANE – Former Eswatini international William ‘Cool Cat’ Shongwe feels
Mbabane Swallows stood very little chance against Mamelodi Sundowns.
The South Africa’s Kaizer Chiefs legend revealed that Swallows were well
aware, even before their CAF Champions League second preliminary round first leg
match against Mamelodi Sundowns that they stood little chance of winning. The
Eswatini’s envoys in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) premier club
competition suffered a 4-0 defeat to the 2016 champions, who played this home
match at the Lucas Moripe Stadium, this past Saturday. Shongwe, who enjoyed a
successful career with Kaizer Chiefs, noted that Sundowns’ qualification for
the group stage for the 10th consecutive year highlights the significant
disparity in quality between the two teams.
Story
“The scoreline alone tells a story that they were no match for Sundowns,”
declared Shongwe. He said that he visited Mbabane Swallows on Friday during
their morning training session at Tuks, where the side’s coach, Caleb Ngwenya
was doing his utmost best to prepare the players mentally. He further
highlighted that it was a foregone conclusion that they would lose to Sundowns,
but what they failed to do on Saturday was to fight hard to minimise the
scoreline. “The standard is simply different. How many years have Sundowns
been competing at this level? This is a higher platform for anyone aspiring to
break through,” added ‘Cool Cat’.
He further elaborated that Sundowns’ level of play was like that of teams from
Morocco, Egypt and certain clubs in West Africa. “They are operating at a very
high level, which surpasses that of Eswatini,” he said. Shongwe also cited
that the levels are distinct and numerous factors that come into play on the
field.