Last chance for Ntopwa
Ntopwa Super Queens have vowed to make their last CAF Women’s Champions League Cosafa Qualifiers’ Group A fixture count this afternoon, knowing a win is the only route to the semi-finals.
They face Botswana’s Double Action Ladies at Chatsworth Stadium in Durban, South Africa from noon and the last-four slot awaits them if they win by any margin courtesy of a head-to-head advantage.
Ntopwa Super Queens’ coach James Sangala said in an interview on Sunday that they have rectified mistakes that led to their one-all stalemate against Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) in their opener and a 1-0 loss to defending champions Green Buffaloes of Zambia in their second fixture.
Currently, Double Action Ladies and Green Buffaloes are tied on four points and a plus-one goal difference at the summit after two games apiece while Ntopwa and LDF follow with a tie on a single point and a minus-one goal difference.
According to the competition’s rules, points in head-to-head matches are used as a criterion to break the ties and this means if Ntopwa beat Double Action, both will have the same points, but the Malawian side will be within the required top-two brackets to progress from their group regardless of any result from the other fixture involving Green Buffaloes and LDF.
“We are aware of the prospects at hand and we are determined to have a strong finish in our group fixtures,” said Sangala.
“We struggled a lot in our last two group matches in which we needlessly misplaced passes, made serious defensive errors and failed to convert scoring chances. We have worked on these areas and we hope for a strong finish as we face Double Action.”
In attack, Sangala hopes Vanessa ‘Mbinho’ Chikupira will add more goals to the single strike she had in the opener and that the likes of Linda Kasenda, Kondawo Banda and captain Saliva January will stand up to be counted.
On his part, Double Action coach Phillimon Makwengwe said in an interview monitored on Fifa Television that they will approach the game with a sharper mentality than in their last game against LDF, which saw them winning 1-0 against a run of play.
Double Action’s outstanding player so far has been midfielder Obonetse Rathari, who has so far bagged two successive player of the match awards.
In Group B, hosts and leaders Mamelodi Sundowns and second-placed Costa do Sol of Mozambique qualified for the semis with a game to spare each following two straight wins apiece.
Sundowns and Costa do Sol face off in their last group match this afternoon. The Comoros’ Olympic de Moroni and Young Buffaloes from Eswatini will lock horns in the other clash.
