Tough draw for Mares
The Mares have been drawn in a tricky pool for the 2021 COSAFA Women’s Championship that will be staged in Nelson Mandela Bay from September 15-26, 2021. The team is in Group B against the one-time winner, Zimbabwe, and guest nations Tanzania and South Sudan. As per the FIFA rankings, it is a tough draw for the local girls. In the group, the Mares are the third-highest ranking, behind Tanzania and eastern neighbours, Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe is 17th on the continent and 119th in the world as Tanzania sits just five places behind Zimbabwe in Africa. South Sudan is the youngest team in the competition at only 10-years-old and are unranked. It will be the first ever meeting between the Mares and the central African nation.
Gaolethoo ‘Ronaldo’ Nkutlwisang’s girls will be hoping to go a step further than their exploits in last year’s edition and land their hands on the trophy. The team has been improving in the competition with a maiden semi-final finish in 2019 and a second-place position in 2020.
In Group A, it is the host and defending champions, South Africa, Angola, Malawi and Mozambique. While Group C has 2019 finalists Zambia, Namibia, Eswatini and another guest nation Uganda.
The top teams in each group advance, as does the best-placed runner-up. This year’s tournament will once again be played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
There is also a bigger fish to catch in the host region of Gqeberha as the tournament is just a month before the start of the qualifiers for the 2022 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations that are scheduled to begin in October. The Mares will be given a test ahead of their bid to reach next year’s continental showpiece.