06 Feb 2024

Botswana national women’s Under 17 players have been challenged to give their all and ‘play for the flag’ as they meet their peers from Burundi for second round of the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup Qualification Africa 2024 at the National Stadium today.

Zebras’s coach, Didier Gomes da Rosa, who had a meeting with the players ahead of the clash, said in an interview that all stakeholders were pinning their hope on the team to rewrite history by recording the country’s maiden world cup qualification.

“What the Mares has done few months ago, made Batswana happy and I believe the young Mares have a potential to emulate their seniors by bringing good results,” he said.

He said he was confident that the players would proceed to the next level, if their determination and hard work at training were anything to go by. The team’s captain Lotang Ebineng said they were ready to play for the flag, as the camp’s morale was high.

 “We are happy that the day has finally arrived and we are going to do our best, given that we know the importance of the game,” she said. The Young Mares coach, Jacqueline Gaobinelwe said her charges were set for the clash, adding that all the players were looking forward to today’s game.

 “The whole idea is for us to make it to the next round, and we will do our best to ensure that we emerge victorious in both legs,” she said. She however said they had one casualty as one their players, Botlhe ‘Lolo’ Bagotsi had sustained an injury, and had since found her replacement. Burundi coach Daniella Niyibimenya said though today’s game was their home game, due to unaccredited facilities in their country, that would not deter them from reaching their objective of eliminating Botswana.

 “We are aware that Botswana will be enjoying home ground advantage, but we have prepared the girls mentally to focus and ignore the host’s 12th player,” she said. Niyibimenya said her girls were comfortable in playing in synthetic grass, but today they would be using natural grass. Other than that, she expressed delight over the weather conditions in Botswana saying they were similar to Burundi’s; hence acclimatising was not a concern. ENDS