Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies reached their third successive CAF Women’s Champions League final on Wednesday night, thanks to a 1-0 win over Morocco’s ASFAR at Stade Amadou Gon Coulibaly.
In what was a repeat of last year’s final, Boitumelo Rabale’s second-half strike proved to be the difference between both sides in a tough encounter.
More impressively, Banyana Ba Style has not conceded a single goal in this year’s competition and are currently the top scorers with seven goals.
An elated Coach Jerry Tshabalala praised his team’s resilience and their commitment to sticking to the game plan throughout the match.
“We analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of our opponents as usual and we noticed that they are typically strong in the first 60 minutes of the game. Hence, my halftime team talk focused on capitalizing on their weaknesses and we achieved the desired result. Kudos to my team for sticking with the game plan. Despite our victory, they remain a very tactical side and we were tested today, but we came out on top,” Coach Jerry said.
The Downs coach once again praised his team’s experience in clinching the victory, stating, “We are blessed with several players who have played at the highest level. The core of our team was part of the squad that dazzled at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations last year. Their experience adds significant value to our side because they have played alongside top-level players. It makes a huge difference in our team and I am pleased about that.”
Coach Tshabalala further expressed his delight with the home crowd, who have provided immense support throughout the tournament.
“Korhogo has been good to us and the people love Mamelodi Sundowns. They support football, and their cheers gave us the motivation to push in this game. We thank them for their support and I am glad that we are going to be playing the finals in Korhogo. I love the people of this great city, and we are hoping for more of their cheers in the final,” the Downs coach concluded.
Melinda Kgadiete, who came off the bench and duly impressed with her dazzling runs, expressed her delight with the result.
“It was a great performance from the team and a well-deserved win. We fought hard for this victory and we showed that we wanted it more. I am happy that we are through to the final yet again. There is so much more to come from this team, and collectively, we are all determined to win this tournament,” Melinda stated.
The 1-0 win meant that the Brazilians have ended their two-game winless streak against the Moroccans. They played out a 0-0 draw during the 2021 Group Stages and suffered a loss in last year’s final.
Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies will face Sporting Club Casablanca in Sunday’s final at the Stade Amadou Gon Coulibaly in Korhogo, with kick-off is set for 22:00 CAT. The two teams met in the second Group A match, with Banyana Ba Style winning 1-0.
Congratulations Ladies, objective achieved by beating our nemesis who took away the trophy from us last year with the advantage of their home crowd and a bit of dubious officiating which made us play with 9 against 11 players. Like I said pre-match comment if we can play them 11 vs 11 we always stood a chance to overcome them. That was sweet revenge. I like the emotional intelligence exhibited by our players who did not go there for revenge but to perform to the best of their ability and they displayed proper football all round. The moment Fatima was substituted I celebrated becoz she is their play maker who makes things happen for them and it was evident after she left the field that they were struggling with creativity. Our defence was solid. What a performance by Tholakele, the short she took, the accuracy, the aggression and of course Kholosa bossing that midfield assisted by the evergreen Mthandi although Rabale was a bit quiet she gave us the goal that gave a ticket to the final as she did against Simba last year. Ladies we are almost there, we are meeting a team which we beat in group stages and I think we did not perform as we did on Wednesday. If we put in a shift which is business-like and convert the chances we create Casablanca is not a threat as ASFAR. But all the best Ladies 1 more game and we bring back the trophy just guard against complacency
Congratulations to the queens of African football, please continue to make us proud in the finals. We luv u big time. we are already celebrating the success from where you are now.
Thanks ladies for a sweet revenge,go and clinch that cup and make this season the best one for South Africa in terms of sports.And also make the entire Yellow Nation proud.Show them that we are not number on football club in Africa by mistake.Where are Ahly,Esperance,Wydaaad,Zamalek,Raja,Mazembe,Simba etc ladies teams? i can’t even mention the pretenders to be big teams of Soweto.You just can’t claim to be big when you send over 5 years without winning a league and not participating in the Continental club football.