CAFWCL COSAFA Qualifiers: Gaborone United, Costa do Sol triumph

Gaborone United Ladies and Costa do Sol seized control of Groups B and C after seeing off Young Buffaloes and Herentals Queens respectively in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Saturday.

The Botswana champions opened their CAF Women’s Champions League: COSAFA Qualifiers with a narrow 1-0 victory over Eswatini’s Buffaloes.

Mozambique’s Costa do Sol also got the better of their  Zimbabwean opponents 2-0 at UJ AW Muller Stadium.

In an early kickoff, United’s Keitumetse Dithebe scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot in the 49th minute for last year’s finalists to seal the victory. The Buffaloes finished the game with 10 players after their player fouled Rathari right on the edge of the box.

The Roses from Gaborone will face Kick4Life from Lesotho next Wednesday to complete Group B.

In the second game for Saturday, Costa do Sol took a surprise lead from a counterattack on the left where the ball was played across the goal mouth in the 29th minute for Lucia to tap in.

Eunencia Machava cushioned the lead for the Mozambicans with a long range stunner to make it 2-0 shortly after the break.

The regional qualifiers started on Friday when Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies and ZESCO Ndola Ladies registered 3-0 victories over Malawi’s Ntopwa Ladies and Beauties FC of Namibia respectively.

Sundowns will now take on ZESCO Ndola Ladies on Sunday while Ntopwa will seek to bounce back when they face Beauties FC from Namibia. Both matches are for Group B.