After a long and taxing travel, defending CAF Women’s Champions League winners, Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies have arrived in Casablanca, Morocco for the second edition of the tournament.
The Brazilians are in high spirits after winning the Hollywoodbets Super League before their departure to North Africa.
They successfully defended their title after reaching 73 points in 27 games – this following a convincing 8-0 victory over Limpopo’s First Touch FC at the Wits Main Stadium on Saturday (22 October 2022).
Banyana Ba Style have won 24 matches this season – losing two and drawing one – and scored an impressive 113 goals in the process.
They left for Morocco on Wednesday (26 October 2022).
“From a psychological standpoint, we are very excited that we won the league before switching our attention to the biggest stage. We are here in high spirits because we have achieved one of our objectives this season which was to retain our dominance in South African football. We enjoyed a similar occurrence last year when we won the league before travelling to Egypt. Kudos to SAFA and the Hollywoodbets Super League for working on the schedule to meet up with timelines,” Sundowns Ladies head coach Jerry Tshabalala stated on the club’s website.
Masandawana are in Group B alongside Nigeria’s Bayelsa Queens, Egypt’s Wadi Degla, and Congo’s TP Mazembe.
While focused on the domestic title, Tshabalala says they have been keeping one eye on their CAF opponents ahead of the continental showpiece.
“We are blessed with a very sound technical team that has been proactive in scouting our opponents. Although it’s been difficult for us to obtain clips of our rivals, we have acquired some from Nigeria’s Bayelsa Queens and Congo’s TP Mazembe. It’s a bit of a challenge to get clips of Wadi Degla but we know what to expect considering that we played Morocco’s AS FAR last year,” added Tshabalala.
Group A contains Morocco’s AS FAR, Tanzania’s Simba Queens, Zambia’s Green Buffaloes, and Liberia’s Determine Girls FC.
“Although we have enjoyed a dominant season, we have not been immune to defeats as teams have become more competitive and are closing the gap. Remember we lost to Zambia’s Green Buffaloes on penalties in the COSAFA Qualifier final as well as to the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and TUT FC in the Hollywoodbets Super League. Those losses have served as a wake-up call for us ahead of the CAF Women’s Champions League and there were positives we took out of those games. I must say the standard of women’s football is continuously rising,” said Tshabalala.
Sundowns Ladies will be in action on Monday, 31 October 2022 when they face Bayelsa Queens in defence of their CAF title.
By Matlhomola Morake
