By Steve Vickers BBC Sport, Harare

Swaziland face Cape Verde in October

Swaziland manager Mandla Dlamini has criticised Caf's decision to combine the 2006 Nations Cup and World Cup qualifying campaigns.

Under Caf's new system, a preliminary knock-out series in October will leave 25 countries in the race to qualify from the league stage.

Those teams will be divided into five pools of five for a round-robin series, with the winners of each group qualifying for the World Cup finals in Germany.

The second and third-placed teams will join each group winner at the Nations Cup in Egypt.

Dlamini told BBC Sport website that the new system could be disastrous for countries that fail to reach the group stage.

He pointed out they would be out of action until the start of qualifiers for the 2008 Nations Cup, which begin in 2006.

"To me this system is not good, because for countries like us it's a long wait for the next round of qualifiers to come around," said Dlamini.

Swaziland, now ranked 23rd in the African standings, face Cape Verde in October's preliminary round tie.