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Tadious Manyepo in BLANTYRE, Malawi
HERENTALS QUEENS have destiny in their own hands and expect to seal their semi-final place by picking at least a point in their final group match.
The Students face South Africa’s University of Western Cape looking to avoid defeat and progress to the last four of the CAF Women’s Champions League Cosafa qualifier at Mpira Stadium this afternoon.
Already top of the pile in Group A after winning their first two pool games against Namibia’s FC Ongos (3-1) and Green Buffaloes of Zambia (1-0), the Zimbabweans can still rubber-stamp their semis sheet before kicking a ball at 3pm.
With Green Buffaloes and FC Ongos playing first at 12pm, Herentals Queens will be guaranteed a place in the top two if Green Buffaloes fail to beat the Namibians or beat them by at least four goals.
However, the students are not reading much about that as they are keen to maintain their 100 percent start to the tournament and qualify for the semis as the group winners.
They do battle against a fierce side that can pip them to the first position if Herentals Queens lose by any margin because head-to-head battles are the first tie-break deciders.
That’s how important the match against the University of Western Cape is for the Zimbabweans.
They can still fail to make it if they lose to the South Africans while the Green Buffaloes win by at least four goals.
And defender Talent Mukwanda, who has been one of the best performers in this tournament so far said Herentals Queens are not reading into any permutations but rather concentrating on themselves.
“This is our first CAF Women’s Champions League Cosafa qualifier and all is well. We came here to fight and that is what we are doing,” said Mukwanda.
“I am very happy the team is competing and they have been the most phenomenal in this tournament so far.
“We are not going to be complacent because we know what is at stake and we know we might end up failing to qualify if we are not serious.
“We need to maintain our form as a team at this tournament. We know the ultimate goal but we take things step by step.
“University of Western Cape is a good team. We watched them when they beat FC Ongos 3-0.
“But we are a team on a mission. No one needs to remind the girls of how big the task is. We have a group of girls who can fight and who can risk it. All we need is to win the game whether we would have qualified (if the result between FC Ongos and Green Buffaloes favour us) or not, we still have to finish as the group winners.”
Herentals Queens, who are debuting at this contest are seeking to win the tournament and advance to the CAF Women’s Champions League final contest to be held in October.
But they have to clear the hurdle at hand in Blantyre first.
Online Reporter