VAR for inaugural women’s Champions League final
UNLIKE the recent Caf World Cup qualifiers played in various parts of Africa last weekend, the final of the inaugural Caf Women’s Champions League in Cairo today will have VAR available at the 30 June Stadium.
Ghana’s Hasaacas ladies will play Mamelodi Sundowns in the final.
In the absence of VAR, television replay footage showed that human errors had a substantial influence on match results during the recent Caf World Cup qualifiers. Matters came to a boil in Ghana over the weekend when Bafana Bafana were dumped out of the 2022 World Cup qualifying race because of a dubious penalty One of the keynote speakers at Caf’s Women’s Champions League Technical Study Group was South Africa’s Sheryl Botes, a Caf Woman Instructor of Instructors. She is based at the High Performance Centre at the University of Pretoria, where she is the coach of the Safa Girls Soccer Academy.
Botes has been impressed with the standard of play in Champions League matches for a while.
“The level of this tournament is very high, and it is important to showcase this to the world," said Botes.
“A key to that is having experienced coaches that lead the teams. It is not just about the physicality of the teams, it is also about different strategies. The fact that we have this number of quality coaches says volumes about this tournament.
“There’s no one good formula in football. On a matchday, everything can happen. It is about which players can apply the strategy along with the spirit and the will to win.
“I was very impressed with Morocco’s Asfar. Their offensive tactics and the way they play as a team and individually, they are brilliant and play good football.”
Botes also singled out Evelyn Badu (Hasaacas) and Andile Dlamini (Sundowns) for their superb performances in the group phase.
“Evelyn Badu is intelligent for her age. She is the link between all sides of her team. Defensively, she is smart and helps her team a fair bit,” said Botes.
“Andile Dlamini is a part of the national team, she’s a good goalkeeper when it comes to penalty kicks. It was a key decision from Mamelodi Sundowns to bring two great goalkeepers, as (Phillistus Asa) Rabalao showed great performance as well.my money is on Mamelodi Sundowns to win the final.”
Clementine Toure, the Caf and Fifa instructor, is headed up the study group in Cairo during the Champions League matches. She is also the had coach of the Cote d’ivoire women’s national team. She hails from the famous football Toure family and is a sister of the world-famous Kolo and Yaya.
After 14 matches in the tournament, 34 goals have been scored, with 22 different scorers. She was impressed with the match strategies employed by the leading teams.
“This tournament proves the huge awakening women’s football is having now in Africa,” said Toure. “Both of the finalists finished the group stage in the first place, so it will be a strong final game.