Gone are the years when almost all countries that played Botswana’s national team, the Zebras, were guaranteed easy points.
Some such countries included Malawi, which the Zebras will be playing today (Wednesday), away at Hastings Kamuzu Banda Stadium in Blantyre for the African Cup of Nations qualifier (AFCON).
Malawi used to beat the Zebras in almost all encounters both teams played but things started to change six years ago when the Zebras developed tough resistance.
They beat Malawi at home and away for the joint qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup and AFCON.
At Home, Nelson Gabolwelwe and Diphetogo Selolwane, made sure Botswana won 2-0 and, in Malawi, three goals from Tshephiso Molwantwa, Selolwane and Tshepo Motlhabankwe sealed a 3-1 away victory.
This time around, the dynamics have changed a little bit and it will be a different ball game.
Botswana comes into the match buoyed by the first two victories against fancied Tunisia and Chad.
The Zebras won both encounters by solitary goals while Malawi has played one match against Togo, which they drew.
By drawing with Togo and, for that matter, away, this means Malawi means business because Togo is one of the strongest countries in Africa. Nevertheless, the Zebras have five points more than Malawi and the hosts would be looking for nothing else but a victory because a loss would mean a disaster to them. aBoth teams are under different coaches from the ones who guided them the last time they met.Malawi is using most of the players that played the Zebras five years ago. The Malawian team has, however, improved a lot from the past years and even qualified for last year’s AFCON in Angola;
Their memorable victory was a 3-0 win over Algeria, which qualified for the World Cup. Several Malawian players are also based outside the country, including Europe.
Botswana, on the other hand, is further boosted by the fact that last week they won a tense friendly match against Zimbabwe. It was Botswana’s first ever victory over Zimbabwe and the Malawians should really not take the Zebras lightly.
Botswana has almost all their foreign based players available for the encounter. Latest to arrive is Cape Town Santos’s Boitumelo Mafoko, who was injured for several months. Phenyo Mongala, who was playing for his club for a charity tournament, was expected to join the rest of the teammates on Sunday.
He scored the all important goal against Chad and is also expected to play a pivotal role against the Flames of Malawi.
Jerome Ramatlhakwane, Diphetogo Selolwane are also expected to carry on where they left from the past encounters.
The Flames will pin their hopes on players like Chiukepo Msowoya, Joseph Kamwendo and Russel Mwafulirwa.
