Mamelodi Sundowns Ladies are strutting through the CAF Women’s Champions League COSAFA qualifiers with the confidence of a team that’s been here before – twice, in fact. On Saturday in Johannesburg, the two-time African champions edged Zesco Ndola Girls 1–0, collecting their second straight win and tightening their grip on a semifinal spot.
The hero of the afternoon? Lesotho’s own Boitumelo Rabale, who ghosted in to tuck home a 19th-minute winner with the composure of a striker shopping for bargains in an empty aisle. That single goal was enough to bag all three points and keep the Brazilians top of the group.
It wasn’t just a win; it was a flex of South African women’s football muscle. A strong Banyana Banyana contingent – Bambanani Mbane marshalling the defence, Lebohang Ramalepe running the flanks, Noxolo Cesane pulling the strings in midfield, with Karabo Dlamini and Ronnel Donnely adding that extra punch – all featured as Sundowns once again showed why they’re the measuring stick on the continent.
With six points in the kitty, a win or even a draw against Beauties FC on Tuesday will be enough to book their semifinal ticket. But let’s be honest – this is Sundowns, and they don’t do “just enough.”
The club has become a continental dynasty: champions in the tournament’s 2021 debut, runners-up in 2022, back on the throne in 2023 with a 3–0 masterclass against SC Casablanca, and now hunting title number three like it’s overdue library books. Last season’s stumble out of the finals still lingers in the rear-view mirror, but this squad, with its Banyana backbone, looks set to right that wrong.
The only question now: who’s brave enough to try and stop them?
