Africa-Press – Botswana. The Botswana senior national women’s team head coach, Alex Malete says they have managed to salvage enough information about the Democratic Republic of Congo women’s team to sufficiently prepare for the WAFCON 2026 qualifiers match between the two sides.
The Mares take on the Leopards Dames at Obed Itani Chilume Stadium on February 20, and Malete is aware that the match will be difficult since DRC is a good side with experienced players, including Merveille Kanjinga who recently signed with Paris Saint-Germain women’s team.
Malete said they had already commenced preaprations, having gone into camp on Sunday, even though some players were yet to report for camp. He said they were currently having nine players in camp, while international based players were expected to arrive after February 15 due to club commitments.
In terms of doing their homework of assessing their opponents, Malete said he was of the view that they had done enough.
“We have done enough to study them; we know the kind of quality we need in terms of players profile for different positions and in terms of how we want to play,” he said.
The coach expressed confidence, pointing that as much as they would start playing against DRC at home, the winner would be decided over two legs. He therefore said game management over the two games would be very crucial and everything would go down to the smallest details in terms of tactics and all the moments of the match.
However, Malete was worried by the fact that when they conducted their assessment camp last month with local based players, the fitness level was average for most of the players.
“Some were below average, so it’s a big, big concern for us but after doing the analysis of our opponents, we will come up with a way that can ensure we perform and at the same time, get the results,” he said.
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