It remains the team's best finish at the competition and now for the third time in a row, the Mares have failed to progress from the group stages of the COSAFA Championship.
On Wednesday, the Mares played to a 1-1 draw against Zimbabwe in a Group C decider in a tournament held in Gauteng, South Africa. It was a must-win match for the local girls having started the championship with a 1-1 draw against Namibia before a 3-0 win over Lesotho.
Zimbabwe had maintained a 100% win rate after two games and finished with seven points following the draw with the Mares. Botswana finished with five points and exited early despite being among the tournament's favourites.
The Mares missed team's captain, Sedilame Bosija and forward, Refilwe Tholakele, due to club football commitments. The five goals in this year's edition are the lowest the team has scored in the last three editions.
The team's head coach, Mohambi Saulos would be worried ahead of a rather busy schedule in the next month. He believes despite an early exit from the championship and without a defeat, the Mares had put up a brave display in South Africa. "We are disappointed; we would have loved to go to the semi-finals but football is one of those games you can never predict. I cannot take anything from the players, they played and they were competitive, they were focused. It is just one of those where fate was not on our side," Saulos said.
Saulos was making his COSAFA debut with the Mares and would look to take the team back to the continental stage. Last year the Mares were counted amongst the top eight teams in Africa after reaching the 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) finals. The team started their quest to return to the continental stage with an emphatic 10-1 aggregate win over Gabon played last month. There is little rest for the team as they will begin the 2024 Olympic Games qualifiers in two weeks.
The Mares will take on Tanzania on October 26 in the first leg in Dar es Salaam before a second-leg tie that is to be played on October 31 in Gaborone. Due to their exploits at the 2022 WAFCON, the Mares were given a bye to the second round of the qualifiers. The second round of 2024 WAFCON qualifiers will follow in November.
