18 Dec 2016

The Under 20 national team returned from PPC Cosafa Under-20 Tournament last week after poor performance

The Young Zebras were sent packing early into the tournament after finishing bottom in their group. They were beaten 2-0 by Swaziland, 1-0 by Lesotho and 1-0 by South Africa.

The team’s coach, George Mogopodi, blamed the bad results on lack of good preparations.

Speaking in an interview, he explained that their competitors started preparing for the tournament over six months ago.

“Our boys have played (well) considering that most of these players have not been playing competitive football at their clubs. To me it was a reasonable performance since they had only three weeks to prepare for that competition,” Mogopodi said.

Mogopodi advised Botswana Football Association to avoid the practice of starting preparations late for competitions.

He also said there was need to keep the young players active so that when called for national duty their selection would be informed by their performances.

“For me a player at the age of 18 or 20 should be able to show what they are good at,” he said, emphasising the need to invest in junior teams.

Mogopodi said there was need to keep the young players active during the school vacations and hold regional tournaments to give them a platform to compete. ENDS