Africa-Press – Botswana. Senior national women football team performance analyst coach, Phemelo Oatile says the Mares was currently at 80 per cent fitness ahead of the TotalEnergies CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON).
Oatile said she was happy that the players were responding well at training and was capacitating for those who were lagging behind.
We are now working on their speed after it was identified by the Global Positioning System (GPS) that it is one component that they are lacking in, she said
With the players’ commitment and hard work, she said she was confident that they would be ready to go against Algeria on July 6.
Having started her journey with the Mares last year, she said there had been improvement compared to when they started.
“The journey was not easy; remember at the national team we work with players from different clubs, and not all clubs have physical conditioning coaches,” she said
Her role she said, was to operate the GPS that works with a player’s performance to monitor it using Catapult devices, adding that the system also helped to see as to how much players were putting into training, which would then be analysed to see how they could be assisted to improve their performance.
Affirming their response to training, the team had a field day playing against Morocco’s Youssfi Berrechid which they thrashed 14-0, in a training match at Berrechid on Saturday evening.
Keitumetse Dithebe scored a haul, Refilwe Tholakele, Laone Moloi and Peggy Manewe netted a brace while Balotlhanyi Johannes, Mitchell Abueng, Oratile Rathari and Gaonyadiwe Ontlametse scored a single goal each.
Head coach, Alex Malete said preparing for a tournament like WAFCON was not only about tactics and physical performance but included the player’s confidence as well.
We played with a different system in the first and second half and I must say the babies of the team, Jessica Maponga, Yaone Modise and Peggy Manewe were exceptional and gave us a different kind of energy, he said.
The head coach said overall, the players had done well, adding that they expected to play one international friendly before their official against Algeria on July 6 which Malete hoped, would the team a real test.
The Mares have been placed in Group B with Algeria, Nigeria and Tunisia, and their first assignment will be against Algeria on July 6, they will then take Nigeria on 10 July followed by Tunisia on July 13.
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