Mares face congested schedule
Kabelo Boranabi | Saturday September 30, 2023 06:00
Saulos, a recent addition to the Mares’ technical bench, has been with the team for just two weeks and made his debut in the two-legged first-round qualifier against Gabon.
Saulos led the team to a commanding 4-1 victory away to Gabon in the first leg played last Friday. The two-legged tie concluded with a resounding 6-0 victory over the visitors at the Lobatse Sports Complex on Tuesday. While the home win fell one goal short of equalling the Mares’ record, the 10-1 aggregate score represents the team's largest victory over two legs.
Despite their strong performance and the prospect of reaching the finals of the 2024 WAFCON in Morocco, Saulos still yearns for more from his troops. The Mares have a packed schedule in the final months of the year. Next week, the team will depart for the 2024 COSAFA Women's Championship, taking place in Gauteng from October 4-15.
The Mares are determined to upgrade their silver medal from 2020 to gold, as their highest remains the second place spot. They will kick-off the tournament against Namibia, followed by a match against Lesotho before their final group stage game against Zimbabwe. After the COSAFA Championship, the Mares will face Kenya in the second and final round of the 2024 WAFCON, scheduled for mid-November.
Should the team advance to the final of the COSAFA Championship, they will compete in a total of seven games within eight weeks. Saulos has expressed concerns about the lack of depth in the left-back position. Kesegofetse Mochawe has been a stalwart in that role, but Saulos believes the team requires additional cover in that position ahead of the upcoming games.
Following Tuesday’s victory in Lobatse, Saulos shared that he is not satisfied with their performance. "We are not there when it comes to our left back (position), we also want to be clinical with the passes, more especially in the midfield,” he said. “We are working hard on trying to be as improvising as possible when we enter the 18th area so that we do not find ourselves there, but we would not know what to do. By the time we reach the 18th area, we should know that our movements should result in an attempted goal or a goal.
So we want to be as compact as possible from defence to attack and reduce the number of touches at the back, just one or two touches then we open them (opposition) up, start building up from the midfield into the attacking third,” he said. Despite the challenges, Saulos remains confident that he will guide the team to their second consecutive WAFCON finals appearance.