Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies have landed in Morocco, the venue of the second edition of the CAF Women’s Champions League.
The Brazilians are pitted in Group B alongside Nigeria’s Bayelsa Queens, Egypt’s Wadi Degla, and Congo’s TP Mazembe. Group A contains Morocco’s AS FAR, Tanzania’s Simba Queens, Zambia’s Green Buffaloes, and Liberia’s Determine Girls FC.
Coach Jerry Tshabalala expressed the importance of clinching the Hollywoodbets Super League title before the commencement of the continental showpiece.
“From a psychological standpoint, we are very excited that we won the league before switching our attention to the biggest stage. We are here in high spirits because we have achieved one of our objectives this season which was to retain our dominance in South African football. We enjoyed a similar occurrence last year when we won the league before travelling to Egypt. Kudos to SAFA and the Hollywoodbets Super League for working on the schedule to meet up with timelines,” Kappa stated.
Banyana Ba Style has been unstoppable in the league this season with 73 points, scoring 113 goals and conceding just 11 times. Despite the hectic fixture scheduling, Kappa believes the technical team has worked extensively in assessing the CAF opponents.
“We are blessed with a very sound technical team that has been proactive in scouting our opponents. Although it’s been difficult for us to obtain clips of our rivals, we have acquired some from Nigeria’s Bayelsa Queens and Congo’s TP Mazembe. It’s a bit of a challenge to get clips of Wadi Degla but we know what to expect considering that we played Morocco’s AS FAR last year,” Tshabalala disclosed.
Coach Jerry also believed the defense of the CAF title won’t be easy considering the rise of women’s football in Africa.
“Although we have enjoyed a dominant season, we have not been immune to defeats as teams have become more competitive and are closing the gap. Remember we lost to Zambia’s Green Buffaloes on penalties in the COSAFA Qualifier final as well as to the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and TUT FC in the Hollywoodbets Super League. Those losses have served as a wake-up call for us ahead of the CAF Women’s Champions League and there were positives we took out of those games. I must say the standard of women’s football is continuously rising,” Kappa concluded.
Sundowns Ladies will begin their defense of the continental title with a mouth-watering clash against Nigeria’s Bayelsa Queens in their opening game on the 31st of October 2022.