17 Jun 2025

The senior women national football team, The Mares captain Sedilame ‘Tsontso’ Bosija says the players are hungry and committed to deliver at the TotalEnergies CAF Women Africa Cup of Nations, which starts in Casablanca, Morocco from July 5 to 26. 

Speaking in an interview, Bosija, who plies her trade at South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns, said their main goal was to pick where they left off in the WAFCON last edition in 2022.

In the last edition, The Mares reached the knock out stage, only to bow out of the tournament following a 2-1 loss to Morocco and miss out on a continental playoff spot for the world cup.

Bosija said their preparations were top notch and thanked their sponsor, First National Bank Botswana, Botswana National Spots Commission and the nation for their support.

Having competed at the previous WAFCON competition, Turkish-based Lone Gaofetoge said they knew what to expect.

She said the intention was to bring positive results and was happy with how their preparations went.

“During our training all the players were involved and they were willing to execute what they were taught to do by the technical team,” she said. 

Gaofetoge said playing in Turkey would also come in handy for the team, adding that she had learnt a lot and how to handle the pressure during the game.

Another Turkish-based player, Keitumetse ‘Ben-10’ Dithebe, who was on her element in the last edition, said this time around, the nation expected a lot from her as she had gained experience from playing abroad. 

She said during their preparations they identified mistakes and worked on so as to be ‘sharp’ and decisive during the tournament. 

Ben 10 said she was aware that some people were of the view that they were in group of death, but said The Mares were under no pressure.

 “Our opponents also know our capabilities, and they should take us for granted at their own peril, we are going there to compete,” she said.

Mamelodi Sundowns player, Refilwe ‘Seven’ Tholakele said coming back from an injury would not deter her to fight for the badge. 

“I have been doing extra sessions, so that I reach the required level with the rest of the team, so I am ready, and the team is also ready.

Head coach, Alex Malete said they would in Morocco with only one mission; to represent the country and to compete fearlessly.  

“To Batswana, thank you for believing in us, you lifted us up, and we know that it is not going to be easy, but we have prepared enough to withstand the challenges that we faced before,” he said.

Malete said their preparations went well since they had honed their skills against best countries such as Morocco, ranked in the top five in Africa as well as Mali, Zambia and WAFCON defending champions, South Africa.

Meanwhile, The Mares, which have been placed oin Group B together with Algeria, Nigeria and Tunisia, start their WAFCON campaign against Algeria on July 6 and will face Nigeria on July 10, while their game against Tunisia will be on July 13. ENDS