‘We don’t fear Downs, we just respect them’ – Birds
ALEXANDRA - The mere knowledge of a pending clash against the multi-championship winning side Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies tends to strike fear in many teams and players alike but this seems not to be the case on both players and technical staff of Bluebirds for the Sunday game.
The mere thought of a pending clash against multi-championship winning side Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies tends to strike fear in many teams but this seems not to be the case with the players and technical staff of Bluebirds for the game on 3 April.
A good number of the Birds players that Alex News caught up with for interviews during one of their many training sessions in preparation for the mammoth clash, which many have dubbed a David versus Goliath opener of the Stream A of the Sasol Women’s League in Gauteng, were oozing with confidence for a positive result.
One of them was Birds’ newly-found diamond in the form of teenage sensation and potentially lethal striker, Tshwarelo Digaota, who echoed her teammate’s sentiments on the coming game. Asked whether she feared the Sundowns outfit, Tshwarelo replied, “I don’t fear Sundowns, I just respect them.”
Speaking from her parents home in Mabopane, Tshwarelo said she was working hard to maintain her fitness. “I do all sorts of exercises and fitness routines while here and will be joining my teammates on 31 March for the final training sessions,” said Tshwarelo, who represented her country in the U17 World Cup qualifier against Nigeria in Abuja recently.
“We have played Sundowns in an off-season friendly, and if they are without their regulars, it will be anybody’s game on Sunday, and I am confident that if we play as a unit the Birds will spread their wings and soar into the air.
“That off-season friendly was for the taking except for a few errors here and there which cost us the game.”
Equally confident was Tshwarelo’s Birds and U17 teammate, goal minder Siphesihle Madala. “I and looking forward to the Downs encounter and urge our followers to come to the stadium on Sunday as we will go in there guns blazing,” she said.
Madala could not play in the return leg of the qualifier against Nigeria at the Makhulong Stadium in Thembisa as she picked up a knock during training with the U17s. “I am now fit and strong and ready for the mammoth game, as long as I don’t pick up another knock again in our own training,” she quipped.
Hungary-bound Birds’ number one choice keeper, Asa Rabalao and Tshwarelo’s striking partner, Morongwa Manamela said the spirits were high in the Birds camp and everybody in the team was raring to go for the game on Sunday.
