Mares in dream land ahead of Angola tie
Kabelo Boranabi | Friday May 14, 2021 16:18
The Mares this week were drawn against Angola in the first of the two rounds of the 2022 AWCON qualification to be played next month.
The finals of next year’s edition to be held in Morocco will be the first under a new 12-team format following a four-team increase from the previous tournament. This will be the first ever meeting between the Mares and the Welwitschias, which will be played between June 7 and 15, 2021 over two legs.
Mares will be away for the first of the two legs looking to outwit a side that has made two ACWON appearances, however, Angola’s last was in 2008, whilst they made it to the semifinals on their debut in 1995.
Head coach, Gaolethoo ‘Ronaldo’ Nkutlwisang is wary of the opposition but is dreaming of guiding the team to its maiden appearance. “I am living this dream like any other Motswana who wants to qualify to the AWCON.
We will work very hard to achieve this dream and qualify for AWCON. It’s a tough draw and we have started our preparations with a friendly and prolonged camp. Our teams are not active thus we have given our players programme and training schedules to push their fitness levels. We have started immediately and our technical team is advancing its preparations,” Ronaldo told the Botswana Football Association website this week.
A win over Angola will pit the Mares either against Zimbabwe or eSwatini in October.
The local girls had reported to camp last month and warmed their boots against Banyana Banyana. The team went down 2-0 in a game that saw some new faces tried out. Meanwhile, at a draw held in Cairo, Egypt on Monday, Botswana is once against pitted against Angola for the 2022 Under-20 Women’s World Cup qualifiers. The teams were given a bye to the second round and will meet between late September and early October 2021.
Whilst, the Under-17 side is drawn against Tanzania in the second round of the 2022 U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers. The pair will face off in March 2022.