AWCON
Botswana 4-2 defeat of Burundi pushes Falcons further down the ladder
Debutants, Botswana are the Group C leaders in the opening stage of a WAFCON group that was predicted as a two-horse race of Nigeria and South Africa.
While South Africa inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Nigeria to take an initial lead of the group, a four-star Botswana making a debut followed the first group match with a 4-2 defeat of their fellow debutants, Burundi.
The result pushes South Africa to the second position while 10th title seeking Super Falcons are now third in the group.
They will need to beat the two debutants comprehensively and to regain their esteem.
Botswana’s win over Burundi is the biggest win of the on-going tournament in Morocco.
The Mares opened their scoring through Karabo Dithebe a minute to the halftime mark when Keitumetse Dithebe found the back of the net with a beautiful curler into the top corner to set the ball rolling for Gaoletlhoo Nkutlwisang’s side.
With the lead, Botswana went into the break with their heads held up high while looking to extend their lead. A minute into the second half, Lesego Radiakanyo did just that as she doubled Botswana’s lead to 2-0.
Burundi reacted quickly, pushing to get onto the scoring sheet themselves and their efforts paid off when Sandrine Niyonkuru picked up a loose ball to send a fine shot past Botswana’s custodian Maitumelo Sedilame Bosija and keep Burundi’s hopes of winning the game alive.
At 2-1, both sides opened up and explored their strengths, but it was Botswana’s Tholakele who scored a quick brace in the 55th and 59th minutes to hand the Mares a 4-1 lead to knock the stuffing out of the Burundians.
It was clear that Botswana had a physical advantage over the East Africans who struggled to match the Mares quick, decisive and fast runs at goal. Niyonkuru found the back of the net in the 81st minute with a fine finish into the roof of the goal and ran straight to her coach – Gustave Niyonkuru.
“This is a historic moment for us as a country to be playing at the WAFCON and even though we have lost the game, it gave us an insight into how we should approach our upcoming games against Nigeria and South Africa, who are more physical than Botswana,” said coach Niyonkuru.
His counterpart on the other end, Nkutlwisang, said she was proud of her side’s performance. “Big up to the team. When we saw South Africa’s win over Nigeria, it motivated us. We saw that now we must win this game. We are so proud of the way we played today.”
“We are competing against the best teams and we are already looking forward to our next game and we want to continue improving.”
Botswana, who are now Group C table leaders, face Nigeria in their next game on Thursday, July 7 at 21h00 CAT (20h00 GMT) while Burundi will be up against South Africa at 18h00 CAT (17h00 GMT.
Democratic Republic of Congo side, TP Mazembe are officially the champions of the CAF Women’s Champions League Morocco 2024.
A highly tactical and hard fought 1-0 victory in the final played in El Jadida’s Stade Ben Ahmed El Abdi against former champions and hosts, AS FAR saw the DR Congo side crowned the new champions of Africa for the first time – wiping away tears of their 2022 group stage exit.
With the crowd backing the hosts, Mazembe showed great resilience and courage in taking the match to the former champions who remain in search for what has been an elusive second title for them.
The deciding goal of the fourth edition of the tournament came courtesy of a converted spot kick by Marlene Kasaj in the opening 10 minutes, which Mazembe protected throughout the match to seal the historic victory.
Despite the early concession, AS FAR kept believing and surged forward in search of the leveller, but a resolute Mazembe defense kept the clean sheet throughout the opening half.
Coming back from the break, it was surprisingly Mazembe who looked more dangerous as they came out strong in an attempt to kill off the game.
The hosts eventually found their rhythm but again were met by a disciplined Mazembe defense, who kept the former champions at bay to secure Africa’s most sought-after women’s club football crown.
In addition to the coveted CAF Women’s Champions League trophy, TP Mazembe also take home $600 000 in prize money, while runners-up AS FAR take home $400 000.
-CAF
BY JOSEPH ODOEKWU
The National Chairman of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club (NFSC) Samuel Ikpea has tipped the Super Falcons of Nigeria to claim their 10th African Women’s Cup of Nations title in Morocco when they begin their campaign next year.
Ikpea’ remarks came after the Friday night draw that put Algeria, Tunisia and Botswana in the same group with the Super Falcons.
“Our girls are going to play in a group with two North African countries (Tunisia and Algeria). “It is going to be interesting, and I am optimistic that our girls will scale from our group”.
Nigeria will tackle two North African teams – Tunisia and Algeria – as well as Botswana, in Group B of the 13th Women Africa Cup of Nations finals taking place in Morocco next summer.
The Falcons will surely relish another meeting with Algeria’s Green Ladies, whom they defeated 2-0 and 4-1 respectively in two friendly matches in Nigeria last month.
Botswana eliminated Gabon in the qualifying series and Tunisia were the quarter-finalists at the last edition also hosted by Morocco.
At the draw conducted on Friday evening at the Technical Centre of the Mohamed VI Football Complex in Sale, outside Rabat, host nation Morocco, earlier slotted into Group A, learnt they will have to cope with Zambia, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Cup holders South Africa are in Group C and will square up to Ghana, Mali and Tanzania in the three-week, 12-nation final tournament taking place 5th – 26th July 2025.
Hosts Morocco finished as runners-up in the last edition in July 2022, with Zambia taking the bronze after a 1-0 defeat of Nigeria in the third-place match.
GROUP A: Morocco, Zambia, Senegal, DR Congo
GROUP B: Nigeria, Tunisia, Algeria, Botswana
GROUP C: South Africa, Ghana, Mali, Tanzania
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