Sundowns Ladies carrying SA hopes in Caf qualifiers

The stage is set for Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies to raise the South African flag high, with the team kick-starting their Cosafa team Caf Women’s Champions League qualifiers match against Lesotho Defence Force in a Group A tie at the King Zwelithini Stadium on Thursday.

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Other teams in the Sundowns group are Double Action Ladies from Botswana, as well as Manzini Warriors from Eswatini.

As champions of the senior women’s league in the country, Banyana Ba Style will how battle it out with six other teams from other countries in the Southern region in order to qualify for the inaugural Caf Women’s  Champions League to be staged in Egypt later this year. 

“Tomorrow’s game is going to be different, we are playing against a team that we never played against. It’s going to be very tricky, but we are looking forward to it. I spoke to the players, physically and mentally the team is prepared. As a team we don’t need to focus on their strengths, but we need focus on our own strengths and work on our weaknesses so that they don’t get a chance to expose them,” Sundowns Ladies coach Jerry Tshabalala told Phakaaathi. 

“When you play in a tournament like this the first game is very crucial. If we could take the three points in the first game it will be a confidence booster to say yes, even in the second game we can get another three points and we know that we are through to the semis. So, tomorrow’s encounter is very crucial. I’m happy that we already two training sessions (in Durban) with the players. They are looking forward to this game and you can tell that the mood in the camp is very high, there is excitement and certainly we will get three points.”

“I like the fact that the field that we are playing is wide, it will allow us to play out football. Besides all of that, we are definitely looking forward to this game,” he concluded. 

Group B consists of Black Rhinos Queens of Zimbabwe, Green Buffaloes of Zambia and Tura Magic from Namibia. 

Two teams at the top of the groups will qualify for the semi-finals, with only the winner of the tournament earning a place to compete against the best teams in the continent.