Mamelodi Sundowns’ Ladies’ star Boitumelo Rabale says they are going all out to retain the CAF Women Champions League title.
Sundowns booked their spot in the final after beating Simba Queens 1-0 on Wednesday evening courtesy of a Rabale 75th-minute strike.
Her late goal was enough to book a date against Morocco’s AS FAR, who beat Bayelsa Queens in the other semi-final.
Rabale said they took seriously the competition they won last year when it was introduced.
“I’m thrilled that we won this game that qualifies us to go to the final. For me, it means this tournament, we are taking seriously, and we came here to defend our title. We are taking it seriously. It’s our intention to,” Rabale said.
“I want us to win and take our trophy back home. It was not an easy game because even the Simba team came into it to win the semi-final. Both teams wanted to win,” she continued.
Sundowns’ head coach Jerry Tshabalala will be happy as he wished to meet AS FAR in the final.
He said it would be great to win the final after beating five of seven teams participating in the competition.
In the semi-final, the defending champions battled it out with Simba in the first half and could not breach the Tanzanian side’s defence.
Tshabalala heaped praise on his opponents, saying they were tactically spot-on for much of the game.
“Tactically, I think Simba got it right first half until I think 70th minute. You could tell they wanted to win every second ball, especially in the middle of the park. As much as we played in patches at some point, there was a time when I thought that the more we keep the ball, the better for us,” he said.
“We had a very bad first half, second half we came back guns blazing, and we could see that Simba last 20 minutes they were bit tired that’s when we dominated the game. I think also there are lots of physical factors that might have affected the performance of my girls. When the players started to gel, you could see the best of Mamelodi Sundowns,” he said.
The final will be played on Sunday at Stade Moulay Abdellah in Rabat.
Article compiled by Tlalane Phahla
