‘SWALLOWS DANGEROUS’

MBABANE - Ahead of tomorrow’s TotalEnergies CAF Champions League match, Mamelodi Sundowns Coach Manqoba Mngqithi is not taking Mbabane Swallows lightly.
Ahead of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League clash, Mngqithi identified three strong points of Swallows. The coach was speaking during his club’s press conference in South Africa, yesterday.  Mangqithi said he warned his players about these threats, stating that failing to match them could lead to an upset.“We’re playing against the champions of Swaziland (Eswatini), who have three very dangerous elements. They are excellent on set pieces; very strong in transition; and a very quick team,” he said.

Mngqithi further noted that the last factor is common among most regional opponents. The mentor also emphasised the need to respect the capital city giants, even though they were not from a top league.He further stressed that Caleb Ngwenya’s men were possessing impressive physical fitness levels, which are unexpected for a team like theirs. He pointed out Swallows’ rapid transition from defence to attack. However, he also mentioned that there were some areas of weakness they could exploit.

compact

“They are a team that plays in groups, not very compact. They play with a defensive five and an offensive five, which sometimes opens them up a bit. This is sometimes caused by playing that long ball to the striker, which stretches the team,” he added. The coach also mentioned that the CAF game and ‘Birds’ approach might be completely different tomorrow. Meanwhile, Sundowns goalkeeper Denis Onyango, echoed the coach’s sentiments about their preparations and acknowledged the challenge ahead. “We’ll be playing a very difficult team because we’ve been watching them play in a pre-season tournament in Mpumalanga. We’ve also watched a few clips of them playing in Eswatini. They are dangerous, and you can’t underestimate them,” Onyango said.

Swallows played a 2-all draw with Galaxy in July. Onyango stated that they would approach the game like any other Champions League match they have played. He stressed on need for the right mentality to advance to the group stages of Africa’s premier club competition.

update

Sundowns also provided an update on the progress of some of their injured players. A quartet of Thembinkosi Lorch, Sipho Mbule, Mothobi Mvala, and Iqraam Rayners were reported to be in good health, ahead of tomorrow’s match. The only hiccups in their preparations were related to players engaged in national duties with Bafana Bafana, who were excused from yesterday’s training.Meanwhile, Swallows left yesterday en route to Pretoria with a squad of 22 players. Fans are set to leave tomorrow morning to watch the game.

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