29 Aug 2019

Sparks are expected to fly during the senior women’s national football team’s Olympic qualifying game against Banyana Banyana of South Africa in a bid to proceed to the second leg.

The duo’s clash is billed for the national stadium in Gaborone tonight (August 30). The local side, which recently returned from a preparatory camp in Slovakia, starts the Olympic qualifiers first leg game on top form.

Although Banyana Banyana are known for terrorising the local ladies, some pundits are of the view that the time is now for Botswana women to get the monkey off their back and salvage a win against the South Aficans.

Both players and the technical team are cognizant of the importance of winning the clash. They also aim to redeem themselves and proceed to the next round of the competition.

Botswana assistant coach, Alex Malete said their preparations went well and were ready for Banyana Banyana prior to their training camp. 

He said the training camp gave them enough preparation and that the worked on strategies such as trying combinations that would help them to overcome their opponents.

Malete also noted that they had played  South Africa on numerous occasions and watched and studied their play at the World Cup and COSAFA meets.

“Now we are in a state where we can do better than we did in our previous meetings,” he said.

Malete, however, said they would miss America based Thuto Ramafifi due to school commitments. The coach declared his confidence on other players.

He said the camp was injury free, adding that two players who travelled to Slovakia, Thuso Leseane and Kesego Matlhatsa were not part of the team.

The two, he said, were replaced by Esalenna Galekhutlhe and Mokgabo Thanda who were part of the COSAFA team. 

Team captain, Bonang Otlhagile said morale was high and that they were looking forward to the game. ENDS