The second city recently faced a depressing future when TAFIC, one of the local clubs with a large following faced relegation after finishing second from the bottom in the Debswana First Division North league.
However, Eleven Angels brought smiles back to football lovers from the region when they gained promotion to the Premier League through a play-off. Eleven Angels’ promotion gave another TAFIC a lifeline when they left a spot in the second tier league. The spot was to be battled by three sides, TAFIC, Super Stars and Zowa United.
Realising the opportunity, TAFIC launched ‘the greatest escape’ plan and brought in experienced gaffer, Philemon Makwengwe to help them in the play-offs. Makwengwe is one of the highly experienced and qualified local coaches.
TAFIC kicked off their campaign with a 2-1 victory over Super Stars on Saturday with goals from Mothusi Fanyane and Michael Murirwa. On the same day, Super Stars beat Zowa United 2-1 to keep their hopes alive.
In the only game scheduled for yesterday, TAFIC needed only a draw to finish at the top of the mini log and did just that when they played to a 1-1 stalemate against Zowa United.
They finished at the top with four points. “I am happy with the fighting spirit. We blended experience with youngsters and they responded very well. We have to work very hard in the midfield because we have very good players there but we do not have the midfield itself as a department,” Makwengwe said in a post match video by the club’s social media page.
Having been appointed on caretaker basis, it remains to be seen if the club would offer him a full time contract ahead of the start of the new season. Makwengwe has previously worked at Orapa United and Gaborone United (GU).
