10 Sep 2019

Botswana Football Association (BFA) has refuted allegations by former Banyana Banyana captain, Portia Modise that she partly orchestrated Banyana Banyana’s loss against Botswana senior women national football team recently. 

Botswana defeated South Africa 3-2 in a penalty shootout in the second round of the 2020 Tokyo qualifiers, shattering Banyana Banyana’s dreams of making their third successive apprearance at the Olympic Games.

Modise was quoted by South Africa’s newspaper, Daily Sun saying she orchestrated Banyana Banyana’s downfall from the sidelines. 

“When I was in Paris during the Fifa Women’s World Cup finals in June/July, I met with BFA president (Maclean Letshwiti) and advised them not to participate in Cosafa tournament, but go elsewhere to prepare for their game against Banyana Banyana,” she was quoted in the paper.

According to Modise, she advised Botswana to give the Cosafa Women’s Challenge in Port Elizabeth a miss and go for a training camp in Slovakia and they listened.

However, BFA spokesperson, Tumo Mpatane said they were aware of Modise’s claims, adding that none of the technical members nor Letshwiti had met with Modise.

“At BFA, we do not have an association with Modise. We know her as an athlete who once donned South Africa’s jersey, playing for Banyana Banyana,” he said.

He said it was wrong for Modise to suggest that she helped the association in any form, adding that as BFA, they did not have any relation with her adding that they found her statement disturbing.

“We think it is disrespectful to our technical team, for the effort they had put in to win against Banyana Banyana. So, whatever problem Portia has with her home association, she should not use Botswana as a scapegoat,” he said. Mpatane said the training camp in Slovakia was long planned. She said Modise should get her facts right before confusing the football fraternity.

 

Meanwhile, Botswana will face Zambia in the next round of Olympic Games qualifiers. ENDS