The Botswana Under-17 girls' team head coach, Jacqueline Gaobinelwe believes her charges hold the upper hand ahead of their World Cup qualifier against Burundi at the National Stadium today.
The game, which marks the start of the junior Mares' World Cup journey, kicks off at 3pm. Burundi is the home team and has chosen to play their fixture in Gaborone, with the return leg set for Friday in Botswana. Gaobinelwe has said the arrangement will work to their advantage as the Botswana team does not have to travel and face Burundi conditions. “It is an advantage to us because we are home. We are going to have our home fans, these are the conditions that we know and are well aware of. We believe that the climate is going to favour us and all those that surround a player during the game,” she said.
But Gaobinelwe said her camp would tread carefully and not think the away and home card will do the job for them as more work needs to be done on the field of play.
“But we still need to be very aware that this is going to be registered as an away game for us and we all know how tough they are. So we still need to treat it as such even though it is an advantage to us,” Gaobinelwe said. She said the girls are motivated and want to be one of the three teams that will qualify for the Under-17 World Cup in the Dominican Republic. She pleaded with football fans to rally behind the team and come to the stadium as the entry is free.
