03 Jul 2025

The stage is set for a Group B showdown in the TotalEnergies 2024 WAFCON as the national women’s football team, The Mares, take on Fennecs of Algeria at the Père Jégo Stadium in Casablanca, Morocco on Sunday.

The two teams have never faced each other in any competition before but on paper Algeria appears stronger, holding the 10^th spot in Africa, while The Mares occupies position 32.

However, football pundits often argue that rankings do not always determine the outcome, what matters is players’ mental strength.

The Mares head coach, Alex Malete said although they had never faced the Fennecs before, his team was well prepared for the challenge. 

“In international football, no team is a closed book. Algeria played their two games recently against Senegal and Democratic Republic of Congo. They also played against  Nigeria before we came here, therefore they are not a closed book, it is just that they are unpredictable,” he said. Malete said he could not disclose much on their strategy for the Algeria game, but stressed that while they do have a game plan, the game would be challenging and the team was committed to giving their best.

He acknowledged that they anticipated a tough encounter, noting that in WAFCON, there were no easy games due to the high level of efforts and preparation teams brought in the tournaments.

“In our preparation in Casablanca we only had one game, against Moroccan local club Youssfi Berrechid. We had wished to play a national team, but we did not manage,” he said. The coach however said they had made good use of their time in Casablanca to prepare, adding that they would stick to their plan while adapting it as needed to suit the circumstances. He said there was a huge improvement in the team given the players’ moral and confidence. Malete said their primary goal was to progress to the next stage  of the tournament, and once they achieved that, they would set their sights on going even further. ENDS