The winners, Double Action were initially supposed to receive P25,000 as per the agreement between the BFA and DTC Botswana. However, the latter delivered a nice surprise when it revealed increased prizes for the gold, silver and bronze medalists. Double Action defeated Mexican Girls 4-2 in an exciting final played at Lekidi Football grounds yesterday to bag the grand prize. Mexican Girls who were initially supposed to walk home with a P15,000 cheque received a whooping P150,000 for finishing as runners up while Royal Fighters received P100,000 and bronze medals after finishing third. Fighters were initially set to receive P10,000.
Speaking to journalists at the end of the tournament, DTC Botswana managing director, Sedireng Serumola said they have been impressed by what they witnessed since Friday when the tournament started. He also said there is a lot of hard work behind the scenes and that this was the beginning of what should be a good journey. “It is such a humbling experience,” he said. Serumola further said they realised that what they had initially pledged was not enough for the teams and hence found the need to increase prizes. Double Action dominated the first half of the match against Mexican Girls and went to the halftime break leading 3-0. However, things nearly turned bad for them in the second half after the sending off of their striker, Gaonyadiwe Ontlametse. The latter received a second yellow card after a scuffle with Mexican Girls defender and went for an early shower. Mexican Girls quickly took advantage of their numerical superiority and pulled one goal back.
They went on to score the second goal, piling more pressure on Double Action. However, they were caught napping and Double Action scored from a counter attack through Masego Nfandiso. “Our game plan was simple, to start building up from the back and making a lot of movement in the midfield because we knew in terms of movement and speed in the midfield, Mexican Girls cannot match us. Our plan was to play from the midfield and spread the balls to the wings, deliver crosses into the box and score,” Double Action coach, William Monini said after the match.
He said after watching their opponents’ last two matches, he realised that their strongest point was Jessica Modise who usually takes the balls from the defence and set up the wingers. “I told my players they should close down their wing play so that they do not put in crosses,” he said. In the individual awards category, Segakolodi Didukanyane of Mexican Girls was named player of the tournament while Bame Mokime received the goalkeeper of the tournament award. Nfandiso walked away with the top goalscorer award. The three winners received shopping vouchers courtesy of both the BFA and DTC Botswana.
