07 Apr 2019

Botswana senior women football team will tomorrow (April 9) face their Namibian counterparts with confidence after beating them 1-0 in the 2020 Olympic qualifier game played under floodlights at the National Stadium on April 5.

Refilwe Tholakelo scored a scorcher in the 85^th minute to ensure that the team was a step closer to realising their dream of meeting Banyana Banyana in the second round.

During the game, it was evident that the senior women team and Namibia’s Brave Gladiators were determined to score an early goal, given that they started the game at a very high tempo.

Namibia, who initially started playing 3-5-2 formation, was forced to change their game plan as it was not working to their advantage.

The Brave Gladiators plan was to congest the midfield so as to deny the Botswana team easy movement. However, that was not to be as the host easily demolished their midfield, but were wasteful inside the box.

The Botswana side had a lot of scoring opportunities, but they were let down by their finishing technique given that in the 10^th minute Lesego Radiakanyo squandered what could have been their opener.

On the other hand, the Brave Gladiators also posed a lot of danger, particularly Zenatha Coleman who plays for Spanish club Valencia, Julia Rutjindo and Memory Ngonda. However, the Botswana defence marshaled by captain Bonang Otlhagile and Masego Montsho gave the visitors a hard time.

Team coach, Basimanebotlhe Malete said he was happy with the girls’ performance.

He said in the beginning he knew some people were worried that the team was not keeping possession, but rather defending too much.“But if you have studied and know your opponents, then you know how you can play against them. They wanted space behind our defence because they are quick. On the other hand, Coleman is very good and we needed to monitor her,” he said.

Malete, who believes his side could have scored more goals, said the team still needed to work hard as the race was not yet over given that in the second leg Namibia would come searching for a goal.  

Namibia coach, Brian Isaacs said he was disappointed by the performance of his team, noting that Botswana had control of the ball most of the time.

He said there was too much pressure from his players given that they could not put two or three passes together while the wings failed to penetrate.

He believed that back home, the Brave Gladiators would play with more confidence. 

“We know what to expect from this team, and I believe my girls will play with more confidence back home and reverse the scoreline,” he said. ENDS