03 Jul 2023

A hattrick by Ontlametse Gaonyadiwe and a brace by Refilwe Tholakele condemned Banyana Banyana of South Africa to a humiliating 5-0 drubbing by  the local girls, The Mares, in an international friendly that was played in South Africa on Sunday.

Although the Banyana Banyana players who are World Cup bound refused to play, forcing the South African Football Association to come up with an alternative team, that did not dampen the spirit of The Mares who took the opportunity to teach the ‘noisy neighbours’ some football lessons.

Their issues with their association did not affect the performance of the The Mares who registered their biggest win against Banyana Banyana.

National team coach, Gaoletlhoo Nkutlwisang said she was happy with the players’ performance and that they were using the game to prepare for COSAFA and Olympic qualifiers.

She also said she managed to pick some positives from the game as she emphasised possession and the players complied.  

The coach said the players were casual in the first half and lost a lot of balls, but came back a better side in the second stanza. ENDS