Ntibane: ‘Eswatini will swallow AFCON bitter pill’

Eswatini interim national team coach Sifiso Ntibane has reacted to their home 1-2 loss to Eritrea on Tuesday when they crashed out of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying race.

In a post-match press conference on Tuesday, the caretaker coach described Sihlangu’s exit from the group-stage of the AFCON qualifiers via a 4-1 aggregate score as a bitter pillow to swallow.

Eritrea to play in TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations 2023 qualifiershttps://t.co/QUXovlUGsm pic.twitter.com/ZXltPlXWS3

— ENFF (@ENFFonline) January 17, 2022

Ntibane attributed the defeat at the hands of the Red Sea Camels loss to sheer bad luck after having dominated proceedings and created many scoring opportunities in vain at Somhlolo National Stadium in Lobamba, Eswatini..

“It is one of those games whereby the boys tried everything,” he said.

“They got those chances, but we couldn’t score first and they punished us first. We were just unlucky not to score first, otherwise congratulations to Eritrea. As country, we must learn a lot of things especially on international football as to why we did not to go to the group stage. We will take the bitter pill, swallow it and move forward.”

Did Eswatini yield to pressure?

The stand-in mentor for Eswatini also felt pressure got the better of his charges in front of an expectant home crowd.

“In the final third, we were too desperate for a goal, and you cannot blame the boys because we wanted the goals. We were just unlucky not to get that game-changing goal. They [boys] run their lungs out and I am proud of their fighting spirit,” Ntibane added.

Sihlangu stepped on the home turf while trailing 2-0 from the first leg played last week in Morocco and need a three-goal margin victory to progress to the AFCON qualifying round group stage.

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— EFA (@eswatinifa) March 31, 2026

The Red Sea Camels hosted the first leg match at Stade d’Honneur de Meknes in the North African country due to a lack of a CAF-certified venue in their home country.

In the reverse fixture, Sighlangu seemed to have done enough to keep the visitors at bay after a goalless first half.

How Eritrea silenced Eswatini

However, Eritrea stunned the home crowd further when Ali Suleiman opened the scoring in the 50th-minute before grabbing his brace of the afternoon nine minutes later to condemn the hosts out of the qualifying race. Justice Figuareido scored the hosts consolation.

Eswatini’s loss came as a surprise considering that Eritrea have just returned to action after 18 years of isolation from the AFCON qualifiers.

The Red Sea Camels have since advanced to the group stage comprising 12 four-member groups who will begin the qualifying matches in September. Lesotho, Burundi, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Somalia are the other teams that have also made it to the next phase.