WANDERERS LADIES IN HISTORIC MAIDEN CAF QUALIFIER

MBABANE – Today is a historic one as Manzini Wanderers Ladies team will debut in the 2021 TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Champions League/ COSAFA qualifiers as it gets underway in Durban, South Africa.

They have already made history by being the first local side to play in the tournament that also serves as the Southern Africa qualifier for the inaugural continental CAF Women’s Champions League that will be staged in Cairo, Egypt later this year. The local side will be the first to take it to the field when they face Botswana’s Double Action at the 2010 FIFA World Cup venue, the artistic Moses Mabhida Stadium. The maroon and white outfit will have to put aside the challenges they endured ahead of the tournament and focus on the bigger goal. They travelled to Durban without coach Bongani Makhukhula, who was left behind due to some personal reasons and their preparations were derailed by some positive COVID-19 cases. The last straw was lack of game time as women’s football is currently out of action in the country since March 2020.

The team will put its hopes to the experienced defenders, the duo Welile Ndwandwe and Thandeka Mbatha, who both played recently for the national team, Sitsebe, in last year’s COSAFA Women’s Senior Championships. Wanderers Ladies reached the tournament by claiming the championships in the 2018/ 19 season before the COVID-19 pandemic ran havoc. They are in Group A which comprise favourites to win the championship, South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies, who face Lesotho Defence Force this afternoon. Wanderers captain Gcinile Zwane said it won’t be easy for them as they would be playing for the first time international after a long time. The team last played an international tournament in 2019 when they went to South Africa for a series of friendly games.

“It’s a very tough group, but we will work hard to be part of the top two. Working hard is the only thing that can help us, and to do things as a team. The standard of women’s football in Eswatini is low, since we don’t have sponsors. We run the team out of our own pockets, so it is very hard for us. But it will help us for recognition,” said the captain ahead of the clash. According to the cosafa.com, Double Action Ladies take their place in the tournament having replaced Prisons XI, who turned down the invitation to take part, citing logistical issues. The team is led by experienced head coach Oupa Kowa, who replaces Philemon Makhwengwe after the latter moved to men’s Premiership side Orapa United.

The club has a number of national team players, who excelled at the last COSAFA Women’s Championship in 2020 when ‘The Mares’, as they are affectionately known, reached the final but narrowly lost to South Africa. Assistant coach Tony Serumola told cosafa.com that they wished they could have been drawn in Group B which has three teams they will have to face the challenge. “Women’s football is growing in Botswana, but we have not been back playing for long. That is the challenge we are having, we are trying to prepare the girls for a return to play, which is not easy, but come competition day we will be ready. It is not an excuse, because at the end of the day we have to be here, and we have to be ready,” she said.

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