13 Feb 2022

Senior women national football team coach, Gaolethoo Nkutlwisang, is confident that her team will qualify for the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations (AWCON).

The Mares will play Zimbabwe in a two legged encounter.

And the winner will qualify for AWCON in  Morocco in July.

Their first leg will be in Zimbabwe on Friday and  second leg in Francistown on February 23. The coach said they left ‘no stone unturned’ when preparing for the game.

Nkutlwisang said she had called American-based Thuto Ramafifi and Mamelodi Sundowns’ goalkeeper, Sedilame Bosija, but they would not participate in the game due to undisclosed reasons.

“But, we have find their replacement and all the girls have been working hard. We believe in the team that we have selected and we believe that we are going to Zimbabwe to fight, looking at the fact that our opponents once qualified for AWCON, but for Mares it will be a debut,” she said.

She said Zambian-based Thando Mokgabo and US-based Esalenna Galekhutle would be part of the team. The coach said the players were hungry to qualify and they had demonstrated that in training sessions

Quizzed if she was under any pressure, she said ‘I trust God, I trust myself and I trust my players. This is our time to make history,” she said.

The team captain, Bonang Otlhagile said the Zebras qualified for AFCON in 2012 and therefore 10 years after that, the Mares were in a mission to re-write history.

“However for us to qualify, we need to be united as a team and play the two encounters as if they are our last games,” she said.

Otlhagile said their qualification had a potential to change the landscape of women’s football in the country, hence it was imperative for them to fight until the last whistle. ENDS