Botswana women’s Jr. team aims for win over Morocco in U17 FIFA World Cup qualifiers
The Botswana national under-17 women's football team hopes to continue their good form when they host Morocco in the U17 World Cup Qualifiers Preliminary second round on Friday evening.
'The Mares', as the team is known, is in a rich vein of form after seeing off neighbors Zimbabwe with an aggregate score of 7-0 in the first round of the preliminaries in January.
Coach Tapaphiwa Gaebolae told Xinhua on Friday morning that they had prepared intensively for the game and they are expecting a tough tie against the North Africans.
She said they had worked hard on improving their defense to thwart any danger posed by the free scoring Moroccans who put 14 goals past Djibouti in the first preliminary round of qualifiers to book a date against Botswana.
She said despite having failed to secure friendly matches against tough opposition, they played against junior men's teams which helped toughen up the girls for the challenge against Morocco.
"We know they have a very good team and their attack can be deadly, we need a good game plan to stop them and we also want to score goals," she said.
Gaebolae said they were looking to have a healthy lead and avoid conceding in the first leg match so that they travel to Morocco holding an advantage to progress to the next round.
Meanwhile, Morocco arrived in Botswana on Tuesday to acclimatise before the game.
The winner of the match on aggregate will progress to the third round of the qualifiers before the final round. Three teams will represent Africa in the 2020 FIFA U17 Women's World Cup from November 2-21 in India. (Xinhua)
