Botswana’s Gaborone United Ladies football Club came from behind twice to see off Ascent Academy 3-2 on Tuesday afternoon and qualify for the semifinals of the CAF Women’s Champions League | COSAFA Qualifiers in Malawi. Faith Chinzimu and her strike partner Alephar Chimbeta struck early for Ascent in between Keitumetse Dithibe’s strike for United in the Group B match at Mpira Stadium in Blantyre.
The Malawians led 2-1 at break before surrendering the lead in the second half largely due to sloppy defending and Patricia Kachepa’s suspect goalkeeping. Winger Maungo Maponga levelled matters for United four minutes into the second half before Laone Moloi completed the comeback with a 76th minute winner. United finished on top of the group with five points with the last semifinal slot for
the pool up for grabs between Young Buffaloes and Lichinga who both finished on four points.
Young Buffaloes took their tally to four points after thrashing UD de Lichinga 4-0 earlier at the same venue. Gaborone United will face Zimbabwe’s Herentals Queens in their semifinal scheduled for Thursday, while on the same day South Africa’s University of the Western Cape take on Young Buffaloes. UWC and second-placed Herentals Queens sailed through to the last-four stage after
the former beat the Zimbabweans 2-1 for both sides to finish on six points and eliminate third and fourth- placed Green Buffaloes and FC Ongos on Monday.
Young Buffaloes concluded their Group B campaign with an emphatic 4-0 win over Lichinga, thanks to striker Siphilisiwe Ndlovu’s hat-trick and Celiwe Nkambule’s strike. Ndlovu made the most of a through-pass in the crowded channels to chip the ball into the net in the eighth minute, as Lichinga finally conceded in the qualifiers.
Five minutes later, Nkambule added the second goal in a counterattack, timing her run to latch onto Tenanile Ngcamphalala’s defence-splitting pass and float the ball over and beyond the reach of Lichinga keeper Marcelina Damula. Buffaloes led 2-0 at break and hopes of Lichinga’s comeback were dashed when Ndlovu grabbed her second and her team’s third goal after her low drive sneaked in between the static legs of Luchinga keeper Damula.
The Buffaloes striker completed her hat-trick a minute into added time when she slotted the ball into the net from a free-kick the Lichinga keeper spilled. The win saw the team from Eswatini going top momentarily with four points from three games courtesy of head-to-head at the expense of Lichinga who also wound up their games with four points. The overall winner of the 10-day tournament will book a place at the CAF Women’s Champions League’s continental finals, joining Mamelodi Sundowns who did not participate in the qualifiers as they had already secured their finals’ slot by virtue of
being African champions.
