Nhleko strike sends Swallows to group stage

A Wonder Nhleko 18th minute strike finished off visiting Zanaco of Zambia as Mbabane Swallows won 3-1 on aggregate as the Swazi champions reached the group stage of the CAF Champions League for the first time.

Zanaco had come into this second leg trailing from a 2-1 home defeat searching, for nothing less than a two goal winning margin to literally pull out a rabbit from the bag. All the resilience lasted just over a quarter of an hour as the veteran Nhleko increased the deficit.

Nhleko, affectionately known as ‘Samba Jive’, ejected the home fans, for literal celebratory jive which grew even better with each and every minute that passed on until the wildest at the sound of the final whistle as history was written by the Swazi side.

Swallows who last year became the first Swazi football outfit to qualify for the CAF Confederation Cup group stage, had carved another historic moment becoming the first local side to reach the prestigious CAF Champions League group stage.

Coach, Thabo Koki Vilakati paid tribute to his lads for the milestone.

“We really needed that goal to put the tie beyond our opponents' reach and when it came we knew it was for us to lose. We would like to dedicate this to the nation who have been very supportive to our cause,” said Vilakati.

“It was a 50-50 affair and both teams played good football. We lost the ties at home where we didn’t play well,” said Zanaco coach Numba Mumamba .

Fixtures/Results

Saturday, 17 March 2018

Williamsville (Cote d’Ivoire) vs Wydad (Morocco) (2-7)

CF Mounana (Gabon) 1-3

MC Alger (Algeria) vs MFM (Nigeria) (1-2)

Generation Foot (Senegal) vs Horoya (Guinea) (1-2)

Township Rollers (Botswana) vs Young Africans (Tanzania) (2-1)

UD Songo (Mozambique) 3-0

Bidvest (South Africa) 1-0 (2-3pen)

Sunday, 18 March 2018

ES Setif (Algeria) vs Aduana (Ghana) (1-0)

Esperance (Tunisia) vs Gor Mahia (Kenya) (0-0)

Plateau United (Nigeria) vs Etoile du Sahel (Tunisia) (2-4)

El Hilal (Sudan) vs AS Togo (Togo) (0-2)

ASEC Mimosas (Cote d’Ivoire) vs Zesco (Zambia) (1-0)

AS Vita (DR Congo) vs Difaa El Jadidi (Morocco) (0-1)

Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa) vs Rayon Sport (Rwanda) (0-0)

*Teams in bold through to next round