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MBABANE – The national team, Sihlangu, will play their second leg game against Cape Verde at Mbombela Stadium.
The Dominic Kunene-led charges will clash with Cape Verde on March 28 in the second leg. The first leg will be played on March 24 (next Friday) away at Estádio Nacional de Cabo Verde. The 15 000-seat stadium has an artificial turf.
According to impeccable sources at Eswatini Football Association (EFA), they were considering to host the game closer home.
“Those in authority have been considering many options for this game. They considered the rent, language barrier and distance away from home. Mozambique Zimpeto’s Stadium was perfect, but the language barrier was a huge setback,” asserted the source.
Before the Mbombela decision, the source further said that Orlando Stadium and FNB were among the options.
“These two stadiums were also shortlisted but they are far from home. Most of the times you find that these are fully booked as other countries also have a challenge of hosting games at home,” said the source.
Cheaper
“Mbombela is much cheaper than the others and it’s closer to home. The reason Eswatini did not use Mbombela the last time was because it was under rehabilitation, but now they are done,” said the source.
Reached for comment, EFA Marketing and Communications Muzi Radebe confirmed that indeed they were not going to host Cape Verde in the country.
“Both our stadiums, Somhlolo National Stadium and Mavuso Sports Centre do not meet CAF standards at the moment so we will use a venue outside the country,” said Radebe.
Asked to mention the shortlisted stadiums at the moment, he said he would rather not reveal those details until it had been finalised.
“We are currently working on securing the venue and we will notify all stakeholders when we have done everything,” he said.
Meanwhile, according to information sourced from www.fcf.cv, Cape Verde Football Association website, the confirmed venue for the second leg is Mbombela Stadium. It will kick-off at 3pm.