The Mares take on Copper Queens

The senior  Women’s  National Football team coach  Gaoletlhoo Nkutlwisang believes   that  her   team  has what it takes  to   redeem themselves when they face Zambia  on the  second leg   tie of  the Tokyo  2020 Olympic  qualifiers. The local ladies went down 1-0  during the   first  leg  encounter    which  was held  in Zambia  on Wednesday however  Nkutlwisang   believes  the team  remains  resolute and focused   despite the   setback. The  Mares  as  the team  is  popularly  known takes on the  Copper Queens on  Tuesday  at the Francistown  Sports Complex  to  seal  on  which   team  will   progress  to the   fourth round of the   qualifiers.

The  team   arrived from   Zambia  on Thursday   where  they will  head straight  to  Francistown    to  prepare  for  the game which   proves  to  be   very  crucial  for Nkutlwisang  and her girls. Though  the   team  has  proved  to   be  strong  and competitive   they   have a mammoth  task  to  overcome   a very  strong Zambia  side-  however   good  Francistown    crowd  which never   disappoint  and home  ground  advantage  can  only   be Botswana’s key and hope  in  battering   the Zambians.

Despite this, Zambia   as a better record   against    Botswana as evidenced   by this year’s   statistics in various competitions. In all  the  COSAFA Cup  matches  this  year  Zambia  has  won  all  the  matches  across Under  17 and Under  20  categories and the  recent  loss  of the  senior  team  at Nkholoma Stadium  have  added  to  the  list which  means   the  Copper Queens    have  an upper  hand. Nonetheless coach   Nkutlwisang   believes her girls can   cause an upset for Zambia in the   home soil.

“During the   game we tried to absorb much of pressure in the first 15 minutes because they were really coming at us. But on the  21st  minutes   they scored because  we were not  organized  in the  middle  field  because  we  gave away possession easily. But in the second half we came back better and chances but we were too late to join the attacking zone. So I can just say the girls played but not to their level best. Zambia is a strong  team  but  we are home  so  with  support ,home ground advantage  and  making up our  mistakes  we can  score some goals  and   proceed to the   next round,” said Nkutlwisang. Last  month  the local ladies put up a spirited  performance  against Banyana-Banyana  both  home and  away therefore    most  pundits are  of the believe that  the team can  upset  Zambia and match  all  the way  to  the next  round. Therefore it remains to  be seen  if The Mares  can down  another   giant in  Zambia  as  they   did with  South  Africa.