Ascent cautious on Cosafa draw
Malawi flag carriers Ascent Soccer Academy say they will not be tempted to think they are in an easy group in CAF Women’s Champions League Cosafa qualifiers set for August 15-24 at Mpira Stadium in Chiwembe, Blantyre.
The Goshen Football Association of Malawi (FAM) National Women’s Championship are in the same group with Gaborone United of Botswana, União Desportiva de Lichinga from Mozambique and Young Buffaloes of Eswatini following a draw held yesterday in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Group A has University of Western Cape of South Africa,
2022 champions Green Buffaloes of Zambia, Herentals Queens from Zimbabwe and FC Ongos from Namibia.
Just like Ascent Soccer Academy, Gaborone United and União Desportiva de Lichinga are debutants in the competition while Young Buffaloes are competing for the third time.
After the group stages, the top two teams from each pool will qualify for the semi-finals.
The winners from the tournament will join two-time African champions Mamelodi Sundowns who already qualified for the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Women’s Champions League.
Although they avoided tournament’s favourites Zambia’s Green Buffaloes in the draw, Ascent Soccer Academy director Thom Mkolongo in an interview said both groups will be too close to call.
He said: “There is no easy group. In modern football every team is a tough team. So, we cannot say we are in an easy group. But we are not going there to participate; we will be there to compete.”
Meanwhile, Mkolongo said the team will camp in Blantyre in preparation for the tournament.
“We have stepped up preparations. We will camp in Blantyre so that the girls get used to the artificial turf because we don’t have that in Lilongwe.”
Football analyst Patrick Zgambo in an interview said Ascent Soccer Academy, who contribute a number of players to Cosafa Women’s Championship holders Scorchers, can match the teams in their group pound for pound.
He said: “The women’s game in the region is growing tremendously almost at the same rate except for imbalanced financing so you can’t really get sides that are completely out of your league.
“It’s a fair draw for this vastly technically superior Ascent side who are representing Cosafa Women’s Championship holders and they themselves contribute an array of talent that play for Malawi.”
However, Zgambo noted that inactivity due to lack of a national league might affect Ascent.
“As usual, they have to compensate for lack of stature against those large women in that group and less regular competitive football with guile and technical skill which can be a tall order they have to learn to negotiate.
“But I wouldn’t fear for them. Ascent are properly coached and developed from youth level through a very impressive development programme. They are a little ‘David’ that likes to prey on ‘Goliath’.”
Ascent contributed seven players to the Scorchers’ Cosafa Women’s Championship winning squad, namely Cosafa Awards Most Promising Player accolade winner Leticia Chinyamula, two-time Malawi Player of the Year Rose Kabzere, athletic midfielder Faith Chinzimu, central defender Alinafe Majora, Marium Mnenula, who scored the final winner, Maureen Kenneth and Maggie Chavula. n
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