The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
YOUNG Mighty Warriors coach, Langton Giwa is optimistic his side will overturn the 5-0 deficit and overcome Botswana in an Under-17 World Cup preliminary round second leg at Barbourfields Stadium today.
The Batswana routed Zimbabwe 5-0 in the first leg that was played in Gaborone two weeks ago resulting in the sudden dismissal of then coach Garthly Chipuka. Despite having a short time to train with the girls, Giwa was optimistic they can score more than five goals without reply saying the team is highly motivated. Giwa said lack of clear combinations and poor fitness levels were the major weaknesses that he had to work on in the few days he had with the girls.
“We only made three or four changes to the squad because we feel it was not a bad squad but rather lacked fitness and combinations, upfront also their shooting skills were blunt. The girls are also motivated to perform well as they now believe they can make a turnaround. I believe we can score more than five goals and at BF we have the advantage of wing play. I am confident we are going to progress,” he said.
Giwa said they changed the tactics to play simple football, adding at their training they were using small sided games to ensure the girls get the basics.
He said sponsorship from Herentals had also been another motivating factor while long time women football benefactor, Lewis Muzhara’s promise of a $1 000 payout for each player would also push the girls to do well. Muzhara said he believes development is key to attaining success by the senior national team hence his initiative to offer the girls a token if they qualify.
“We need to go further in this tournament because that is where the future gems are and being knocked out will have a negative impact on the unearthing of future stars,” he said.
Botswana Under-17 coach, Tapaphiwa Gaebolae was however, optimistic they will qualify for the first round adding they want to continue from where they left off.
“We will obviously be facing a tough Zimbabwe, after the change in the technical department I think their approach will be quite different from what we saw in Botswana but we are not going to change our tactics and will go all out in attack. We want an early away goal to unnerve them and after that we can take full control of the game. We are very strong going forward and we will rely on that,” she said.
