23 Mar 2016

The senior national football team will tomorrow take on  their counterparts in Comoros Islands in a Group D,2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification battle. 

On paper, Zebras should not find it difficult to ‘kick’ the Les Coelecantes as they appear to be the weakest team in group D. In the mini log they are at the bottom and having played two games they are yet to win a single game, whereas Zebras is occupying position two with three points.

However, it will be a big mistake if the local lads can underrate the Les Coelecantes more especially in their own back yard, since they have quality players who might cause havoc in Zebras defence, and most of their  players ply their trade in Europe.

Zebras should also be wary of Mohamed Youssouf and El Fardou Ben Mohamed who are based in Greece.

Zebras coach Peter Butler has not allowed Comoros FIFA standing nor their log standing in group D to cloud his judgement and has travelled with his tried and tested arsenal.

He told BOPA before the team departure yesterday that he was aware that most of Comoros players played in professional set up, adding that his players were positive and looking forward to the game.

He said his charges were very confident, despite not playing a friendly to prepare for the encounter, adding that he was happy that the players had been playing competitive football in their respective league teams.

Furthermore, Butler said the players were fit, and they looked sharp and hungry for a fight, adding despite the fact that Comoros was a closed book, he was not worried because they were going there with a positive mind.

Comoros is ranked 173^rd in FIFA rankings, while Botswana is at 92. However, Butler said there were no minnows in the world of football and  so he was going to treat Comoros they way he would treat Mali,Burkina Faso or Ghana.

Zebra’s captain, Joel Mogorosi said the morale in the camp was very high and all players were confident. He added that although they did not prepare for the game well, he had trust on the youngsters who were gradually introduced to the team.

He said the young players were “very hungry” and should they play according to the coach’s instructions, the Comoros would find it difficult to contain them.

Zebra’s goalkeeper, Kabelo Dambe said it was always difficult to play against closed book opponents, and as the last man in defence he had a lot of work to do to study the opponents and communicate to his team-mate.

He however said as players they would continue to work hard, do their best and ultimately bring good results.

Dambe’s sentiments were shared by Thato Kebue who said since they had never watched their opponents playing, they would have to be very cautious. Their mission, he said was  to win away as that would ease pressure when they played them home.

The team will return home immediately after the game and head straight for Francistown, to prepare for the second leg to be played on Sunday at Francistown Sports Complex. Ends