Tardy targets away win

Caf U-17 ChampionshipTodayBotswana vs RwandaRWANDA U-17 football team squares off with Botswana in the second round first leg of the 10th African U-17 Championship qualifier today hoping for a good away result.It will be the junior wasps’ first international competitive match at the Molepolole Sports Complex.The Rwandan delegation arrived in Molepolole on Wednesday night and are booked in the five-star Lansmore Hotel. The team was expected to train at Molepolole stadium last evening.Head coach Richard Tardy said before the team’s departure that he was confident his young troops can stun their hosts and get an away win ahead of the return leg in Kigali a week today.“It is going to be a tricky game, but I have full confidence in this team. Our approach will be to play an offensive game and hope to get the first goal, which will put Botswana under pressure to come out and attack,” Tardy told Times Sport.On his part, Botswana’s team assistant coach Ditiro ‘Happy’ Motshegare, said they must use home-ground advantage to their benefit to repeat the thrilling performance that saw them beat Malawi in the second leg two weeks ago in the last round.“The primary aim is to develop quality players that would one day play for the senior national team, but results are also important and we intend to win on Friday. We want to qualify for the finals,” Motshegare was quoted in Botswana press ahead of the clash.Botswana reached the second round of the competition after defeating Malawi in a penalty shoot-out in the first round. The two teams had a 3-3 aggregate score.Rwanda got a bye into the second round after reaching the finals of African championship last season.The return leg will be played in Kigali with the winner of the tie advancing to the third round of the qualifiers.The winner over the two-legged qualifier will face the winner between Sudan and Algeria in the final qualifying leg due later this year after CAF disqualified the Somali U-17 team that beat Sudan to progress to the second round of CAF U-17 Championship.Fourteen countries will qualify for the finals in Morocco next year.