07 Jul 2025

The senior women  national football team, The Mares coach, Alex Malete, remains optimistic that they would reach the next stage of the TotalEnegies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) despite losing 1-0 against Algeria in their Group B opening game on July 6 . 

The Mares will play a crucial encounter against Nigeria on July 10, who won 3-0 against Tunisia. Lone Gaofetoge and Nandi Mahlasela, who missed the game against Algeria due to suspensions will be back in the lineup. Mahlasela got back to back yellow cards against Kenya, while Gaofetoge got them during the qualifying games against Kenya and Gabon. The rules of the WAFCON tournament stipulates that the cards would be carried through to the official tournament. 

The return of Gaofetoge will help The Mares get into the attacking third by distributing the long balls and playing in the spaces. Malete said they were now focusing on preparing for their next games, adding that they would ensure that they collected maximum points. The coach said they were now forced to get maximum points in their last two games, against Nigeria and Tunisia for them to proceed to the next round.  

“But we should not be desperate but too smart,” he said, adding that Tunisia had already lost their opening game. 

In that regard, he said the next step for them was to look as to how Nigeria played against Tunisia and also make reference to friendly games they played recently, to see if the patterns were still the same. Malete said they would also have to reflect in their own match and work on areas that needed improvement. 

“We need to improve how we start our games, so that it is also a bit easier on us, we cannot always make it easier for the opponents by not starting the game very well and only to adjust late,” he said. 

Against Algeria, the coach said they were very disappointed about the result. He said they did not start the game well adding that at WAFCON level, "every minute and second matters", hence it was important to play the game from the first second to the last second. He however said they had identified their shortcoming, hence they would correct their mistakes against Nigeria. ENDS