04 Dec 2023

As the senior national women’s football team, The Mares walk into the National Stadium for a do or die return leg clash of the 2024 WAFCON qualifiers against Harambee Starlets of Kenya later today, one thing in the minds of coach Alex Malete’s charges will be to qualify.

Who can fault them for having such an ambition? After all, they go into the game with an away goal advantage, which was netted by Keitumetse ‘Ben 10’ Dithebe in the first leg in Kenya.

The winner of the game qualifies for 2024 WAFCON to be played in Morocco, and playing in front of the home crowd would be as important as qualifying would be before their local supporters.

Harambee Starlets are not good travellers as they enjoy to play in front of their home crowd as seen when they beat giants Cameron at home.

In this situation, it will be imperative for The Mares’ striking force to be sharp and precise.

Coach Malete and the players know the importance of winning the game. Players such as Lesego Radiakanyo and Refilwe ‘Seven’ Tholakele should know they are carrying the nation’s hopes and they should bang in those goal.

Masego Montsho, Kesegofetse Mochawe and Lone Gaogetoge are expected to closely guard Harambee Starlets strikers because if left unchecked, they could cause havoc.

In an interview, Malete said the players were ready and they were all looking forward to the game.

He said they played a difficult game in Kenya, adding that they have made their analysis after watching the last game as Kenya made few changes on the day. He said Seril Andiba did not start but came in as a substitute in the second half and paired with Vivian Odhiambo.

“Despite changing their game plan, there were certain things that we also did correctly.

Off the ball, we were very good, and their opportunities came through penalties.

But besides the penalties, they were able to shoot from outside the 18th area, which did not bother us because we have a good goalkeeper who is able to deal with those kind of balls,” he said.

Furthermore, Malete said defensively, his players did a very good job in terms of trying to close down the spaces and being compact.

The coach said in today’s game, the expectation is that the Harambee Starlets might use one striker and Mwanalima Jereko will be assigned in the middle of the park, while Elizabeth Wambui will still play on the outside.

He said their changes would mean that The Mares would simply have to apply the basic dynamics of defending.

Malete added that they will have to automatically adjust to the profiles of the players who will be introduced.

“We are expecting changes from Kenya and equally, we will change because of those little dynamics brought by their tactical approach.

They have also studied us and they have seen that when out of possession we did very well,” he said. Ends