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â€¦A MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE - SIHLANGU STARS

By Sibongiseni Zondi | 2018-04-21

SOCCER - The 22 Sihlangu players who were part of the squad that took on and beat Namibia 1-0 in an international friendly to mark the end of the 50/50 double celebrations on Thursday at Mavuso Sports Centre will go down in history books.

The Swazi observer sports desk caught up with some of the players after the momentous victory to get their thoughts. This is what they had to say:

Tony ‘TT’ Tsabedze (captain)

“Firstly, congratulations and a happy birthday to His Majesty. We hope this is a perfect birthday present to him. This victory is important because we are preparing for the upcoming COSAFA Cup. It was a good win considering the occasion. I think this will be a memory that will live with me for the rest of my life. Now the most important thing is that we move forward as a team and meet upcoming demands but we will never forget what we did during the 50/50 celebrations.”

Mandla Palma

“It was an honour to take part in this match, playing during the 50/50 celebrations in front of the nation.

We are very happy with the win which we believe is a good birthday present for the King. There will never be another 50/50 so we are thankful that we played here and won. I will never forget this moment.”

Bonginkhosi ‘Manyovu’ Dlamini

“Firstly, a happy birthday to His Majesty and congratulations on a successful 50/50. I am very happy to have scored the winning goal but for me this is only the beginning. I still have to work hard. It will take me a long time to forget this day because we were all celebrating as a nation.”

Sandanezwe Mathabela

“I am so happy to have played in this match. The country was celebrating today and we had to win to give His Majesty the perfect gift.

The win is also important in terms of our preparations for the COSAFA Cup. I don’t think I will ever forget this day in my life because I believe even in the history books it will be written that we played and beat Namibia during the 50/50 double celebrations.”

Musa Dlamini

“It means a lot to us to have played in this big match on a day of celebrations in the country. It was also a big win because it had been a long time since the nation saw the national team win.

As a team, we can only promise that we will build on from here. I was very happy when we scored the goal because we deserved to get one.

We missed a lot of chances early on in the match but I am happy that we eventually won.”

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