DREAM START IN U-20 AFCON QUALIFIERS, AS HAT-TRICK HERO: ALAKHE FIRES ESWATINI TO VICTORY

Eswatini ……….. (2)5
Phiwayinkhosi 37th, Alakhe 39th, 53rd, 78th Malwande 47th
Mozambique……. (1)4
Neves 20th, 62nd, Jose 59th, Sea 90+5

MBABANE – South Africa-based youngster Alakhe Mdluli’s hat-trick fired Eswatini to a dream start in the AFCON Under-20s qualifiers.

Eswatini stunned the hosts with a 5-4 win in the opening game of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier in Maputo, Mozambique, yesterday. The games are being played under the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) banner. Despite a scare from the first goal by Mozambique, Eswatini who had led 4-1 at some point, still had the verve to grind the result on the road, thanks to the Amazulu reserve team star (Mdluli). Since Zimbabwe and Botswana settled for a 1-all draw in the other group fixture, Eswatini are at the top of the chart with three points. They play Zimbabwe tomorrow.

Converted

After the opposition put Eswatini on the back foot, Phiwayinkhosi Dube coolly converted a chance to level the score at 1-1.Just two minutes after the equaliser, Mdluli’s individual brilliance saw him dribbling past the home defender before he chipped the ball past a diving goalkeeper to give his side a 2-1 lead. Eswatini made a blistering start to the second half, as they scored their third goal through the boot of Njongo Mazibuko, who capitalised on a communication error between the goalkeeper and his defence.

Mdluli proved to be a danger to the home team’s defence and he registered his second goal to make the score 4-1 to Eswatini after the 53rd minute. Mozambique was awarded a penalty shortly afterwards after a handball. The skipper, Fernando Jose, coolly converted from the spot to make the score 4-2. The fighting spirit of the home team saw them reduce the deficit when Neves jumped high to meet Chumman Muianga’s corner kick in the 61st minute. But any thoughts of a comeback were dashed when Malwande Gwebu volleyed his shot into the top corner after he received a powerful cross from Mdluli to increase the lead to 5-3. In the dying seconds, Mozambique’s Yuran Seia scored from a long-range short as the goalkeeper, Andile Awu, made a mistake to gift the host a goal five minutes into injury-time, but it was too little, too late.

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