The Mares charges on the Falcons
Following their 4-2 drubbing of Burundi in their maiden African Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON), the senior Women National Football team, The Mares, will be lying in wait for the wounded Nigeria, who lost 1-2 to South Africa last night.
Goals from Keitumetse Radithebe, Lesego Radiakanyo and a brace from Refilwe Tholakele earned all the three points for the team and put them at the summit of Group C with a better goal difference over bitter rivals, South Africa.
The Mares will face an wounded lion in Nigeria on Thursday and it remains to be seen if the local ladies will cause more pain to the more experienced and ruthless Nigeria.
Should the likes of Nondi Mathasela, Refilwe Tholakele, Lesego Radiakanyo and Keitumetse Radithebe be on song on Thursday and execute their roles well, The Mares might fancy a chance of making it through to the next round of the tournament.
On the other hand, the Falcon Eagles as the Nigerian side is known, are the most successful side in the tournament with 9 titles from 11 editions.
For them, crashing out at the first stage of the tournament is very undesirable and they will go into the encounter against The Mares with guns blazing; the like of Rasheedat Ajibade, Vivian Ikechukwu and Francisca Ordega can cause The Mares a lot of harm if they are not carefully guarded.
Moreover, tactically, Gaolethoo Nkutusang and Alex Malete should join hands and come up with a proper game plan and tactics that can cause American coach, Randy Waldrum some headaches in the Falcon Eagles dugout.
The Mares play against Nigeria on Thursday at 2200 hrs, while South Africa will lock horns against struggling Burundi in an earlier game. The Mares will play their last group game on Sunday against bitter rivals, South Africa.