30 Aug 2018

COSAFA Women’s Championships draw that was conducted on August 29 in South Africa has placed Botswana in Group A, with South Africa, Malawi and Madagascar.

Twelve countries will compete in what promises to be a mouthwatering tournament to be played from September 12-22 at the Nelson Mandela Bay in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Although the group may favour Botswana, their main obstacle will be fitness and lack of game time as the women’s league is currently inactive.

Botswana’s first game will be against Malawi on Septemner 12 and then face South Africa two days later while their last game will be against Madagascar on September 17.

If the team performs well in the group stages, it will then move to the semifinals.

On the draw, the team’s coach, Gaoletlhoo Nkutlusang said the group was fair adding that they were not worried as to which teams they would play against.

She said their mission was to focus and hopefully win the first ever gold for the team.  

“Of course, we are drawn against South Africa who are always giving us a hard time, but this time around we know a lot is at stake and our determination should take us through,” she said.

All the teams in the group, she said had the potential to make it to the semifinals, noting that Malawi and South Africa had a pool of players plying their trade outside their countries.

The coach said they were working on the players’ fitness given that most of them were not active. Currently, she said they were preparing well for the tournament.

The coach, who has mixed experienced players with young blood in her provisional squad, is expected to give a chance to new comers who are also hungry for a run.

“Our victory will be determined by our preparation. If we can have two or three international friendly games, we can compete,” she said.

Meanwhile, Group B has Zambia, Cameroon, Lesotho, Mozambique while Group C has Zimbabwe, Uganda, Swaziland and Namibia. ENDS