Continental Champions, Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies received a joyous welcome from an appreciative crowd when they touched down in South Africa on Sunday morning. The all-conquering Brazilians etched their names into the record books after beating Ghana’s Hasaacas Ladies 2-0 at the 30 June Stadium in Cairo to become the inaugural winners of the CAF Women’s Champions League. Remarkably, Masandawana clinched the continent’s premier women’s title without conceding a single goal.
The victory also meant that Mamelodi Sundowns became the very first African team to clinch the men’s and women’s Champions League titles, an extraordinary feat. This incredible achievement of Sundowns Ladies has seen them receive praise from far and wide. After the final game, South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa took to social media to congratulate Banyana Ba Style on their emphatic victory in Cairo. In addition, the triumphant champions made a courtesy call to SAFA House to show off the CAF Women’s Champions League trophy to SAFA President Danny Jordaan.
After conquering the continent, Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies will be looking to boost their hopes of retaining the Hollywoodbets Super League title as they square off against JVW FC at the Groenkloof Stadium on Wednesday. Earlier this season, both teams played out to an entertaining 2-2 draw. Striker Melinda Kgadiete who is gunning for her fourth title this season believes the team has fared well amidst the fixture congestion in recent times.
“These last few months have been one heck of a journey; from COSAFA qualifiers for the CAF Champions League to the Aisha Buhari women’s invitational tournament, to the CAF tournament in Egypt and now back to the league. It has been a wonderful learning curve for me and my teammates as we have gained so much knowledge and experience that would come in handy in boosting our overall understanding of the game. We are already looking forward to the fixture and we are gunning for maximum points,” stated the goal poacher.
Kgadiete who has a couple of goal-scoring firsts this season (including scoring the Sundowns’ first goals at the Hollywoodbets Super League, COSAFA qualifiers and the CAF Women’s Champions League in Egypt) believes winning the continent’s biggest prize gives The Brazilians an edge moving forward.
“The win in Egypt has boosted our confidence. It shows that if we can dominate the entire continent, it means that we are more than capable of showing our class whenever we are pitted against anyone. Right now, our long-term target is to compete at the FIFA Women Club World championship next year. It is going to give us the opportunity to test ourselves against some of the best teams in the world. We feel unstoppable at the moment, but we are going to keep working harder every day in training to avoid any form of complacency. Our immediate concern now is JVW FC and we are ready to pick up from where we left off.
The Brazilians have enjoyed absolute dominance in the league this season. After 22 games played, Sundowns Ladies have racked up an impressive 20 wins, with just one draw and one defeat (boardroom decision), scoring 72 goals and conceding just 11.
Mamelodi Sundowns square off against JVW FC on Wednesday afternoon, at the Groenkloof Stadium in Pretoria. The kick-off time for the fixture is at 15h00.
Stop playing for not to concede and play for a win by fielding offensive players like we did against Marumo Galliant,Maema,Safronko to assist Peter Shaulile AMEN.