Times Of Swaziland: SOMALIA WIN BOOSTS SIHLANGU RANKING

SOMALIA WIN BOOSTS SIHLANGU RANKING
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Nimrod Hlophe on 05/04/2024 10:11:00


MBABANE – Hardly a week after defeating Somalia 5-2 on aggregate, the national
team, Sihlangu, have improved one place in the latest FIFA rankings.
The Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) updated the men’s
rankings yesterday. Sihlangu led by Dominic Kunene, who is currently out of
contract, ascended from the 149th to the 148th place. This second ranking of the
year followed Eswatini’s participation in only two international matches.
These were the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Qualifiers
preliminary rounds.
In the first leg, they hammered the continent’s lowest-ranked country 3-0,
followed by a 2-2 draw in the return leg. Eswatini then advanced to the group
stages on aggregate.This slight upward trend saw Sihlangu overtake their kingdom
counterparts, Lesotho, who now occupy Eswatini’s former position. This
positive movement comes six months after Eswatini’s last climb on the charts.
That was in September last year, when they moved up to being ranked 144th before
dropping to the 146th position the following month and then to 149th in
November. The recent movement in the rankings indicates that Eswatini is just 60
places below its historic high rank of 88th in May 2017. The first time it was
ranked was on December 31, 1992, where it appeared 104th in the charts.
Notably, better rankings assist in terms of seeding for competitions, as
higher-ranked countries usually do not play in preliminary rounds. Currently,
Dominic Kunene’s technical team is out of contract. Sihlangu’s next
assignment will be the 2026 Africa World Cup Qualifiers in June. FIFA will then
update its rankings on the 20th of the same month.