MBABANE – The senior men’s national team, Sihlangu, is expected to endure a gruelling schedule with minimal recovery time ahead of their AFCON preliminary round qualifier.
Eswatini are set to face Eritrea in a two-legged, home-and-away fixture for the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2027 preliminary qualifiers. The away leg will be hosted in Morocco, as Eritrea currently lack a Confederation of African Football (CAF)-approved stadium. The first-leg clash is scheduled for Wednesday at 4pm. However, as things stand, Sifiso ‘Nuro’ Ntibane’s men will have only a few hours of rest before the opening whistle. According to a well-placed source, the national team is expected to depart on Sunday, embarking on a journey that will see them arrive during the final countdown to the match, on Tuesday.
The International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) Medical Guidelines suggest that elite footballers require a 48-hour buffer zone to restore hydration levels and muscle glycogen depleted during travel. CAF also expects the visiting team to train on the match pitch atleast once, exactly 24 hours before kick-off and at the same time as the scheduled start.
Furthermore, research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine indicates that travel fatigue accumulates even without time-zone changes, leading to a 10 to 15 per cent drop in high-intensity sprint capacity.
On the other hand, experts from the Sleep Foundation also say that the first night in a hotel is rarely as restful as home, siding with the argument that a team arriving just 24 hours before a game plays on empty tanks.
Typically, teams require days for active recovery and atleast one light training session on the match pitch to adapt to the surface.
Meanwhile, Eswatini Football Association (EFA) President Peter ‘Samora’ Simelane stated that the situation is beyond their control and is a common hurdle for many national teams. Simelane pointed to a congested calendar, and mentioning that the opponent’s decision to fixture the game so early in the FIFA break left them with no other choice.
About seven of the travelling squad players will be action on Saturday for their teams’ Ingwenyama Cup last eight games ahead of tomorrow’s journey.
“We just need to make sure that our players are relaxed along the way,” said ‘Samora’.
On the other hand, EFA Communications Manager Muzi ‘Rhoo’ Radebe also clarified that flight schedules are often inflexible, regardless of how early a team wishes to reach its destination.
*Full article available on Pressreader*
Leave a comment