16 Feb 2022

Goalkeeper trainer for the senior women national football team, Joseph Maposa, says they have enough in their arsenal to replace Sedilame Boseja in their encounter against Zimbabwe tomorrow.   

The Mares and Mighty Warriors meet in the Africa Women Cup of Nations (AWCON) first leg encounter at the National Sports Stadium in Harare.

The Mares number one goal keeper, Boseja, will not play because she is still recovering from an injury.

Maposa said he was cognisant of the fact that when the going gets tough, all eyes would be on the goalkeeping department.

“I have been telling them that I do not have a first choice but the keeper will be picked by her performance,” he explained.

He said they had been preparing well and all the goalkeepers were ready.

“So the only thing left is for me to continue to prepare them physiologically, to relax and just execute what we have been doing at training,” Maposa  said.

In its preparations, the team took into consideration that the game might even go to extra time or penalties.

“In terms of penalties, I have warned and advised them how to deal with them during the game or penalty shootout, but we do not want to go that far. Our intention is to finish the game in regulation time,” he said.

The goalkeeper coach said the team was fully prepared and confident that they would score goals, yet keeping a clean sheet both home and away to help them to qualify for AWCON.

Meanwhile The Mares coach, Gaolethoo Nkutlwisang, said she was happy about the goalkeeping department’s work rate.

On other issues, she said the two international players, Esalenna Galekutlhe from the United States and Thanda Mokgabo who played in Zambia had joined the team.

She said morale in camp was high and all the players were looking forward to Friday’s game. ENDS