Twelve years since their historic first ever qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals, the Botswana Football Senior men national team, the Zebras, have finally returned to wine and dine at the high table of African football.
After drawing with Mauritania in their penultimate game, the Zebras had to do it the hard way, drawing 1 – 1 against Egypt away in Cairo. Theirs was a no frills, no fanfare display in Egypt.
For the entire match, the Zebras, played with their backs against the wall, repelling attack after attack from the marauding Pharaohs. While many, though happy, lamented the ‘negative’ park the bus approach, qualification was the goal for the Zebras. And the end justified the means.
With qualification now achieved, preparations for the Afcon finals have now started. Top of the priorities now for Botswana Football Association (BFA) is mobilising resources for preparations as well as appointing a substantive coach for the team.
Luckily for the Zebras and BFA, the new minister of Sports Jacob Kelebeng, seems to be singing from the same hymn book as them. Speaking at the team’s welcome ceremony, the youthful minister asserted that investing in sport delivers such beautiful results.
He stated that it is imperative for the ministry to give its all in support of the national team. This will be to ensure they go beyond group stage and advance further into the competition.
“In our first appearance in 2012, we were eliminated in group stages. We should now aim to go beyond the group stage and advance further. To ensure this happens we need to support our team with everything we have during their preparation awaiting the competition in Morocco,” Kelebeng said.
Having been recently appointed to his portfolio, the youthful minister emphasised a need to sit down first and analyse a few things. This is done to appreciate the welfare of our athletes, sports in general, not only in football so that players or athletes can be rewarded ‘accordingly.’
“My mission is to give our players the best support even during qualification stages from now henceforth. We are going to engage with BFA and all necessary stakeholders to see how we can support the team. We know that companies will be throwing incentives at the team now that they have qualified, we do not want that money when the team has already qualified we want it before so that we can prepare well,” Kelebeng said.
With the government seemingly willing to go all out and help, the BFA can now focus on finding a substantive coach to take over. Already, many are calling for Ramoreboli’s appointment. Coming in at the last minute, the Jwaneng Galaxy head coach showed his ability to adapt to already set plans to finish a mission started without him.
BFA Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Mfolo Mfolo said what Ramoreboli did in the last two games of qualification against Mauritania and Egypt could not be downplayed. Mfolo stated that when he took over, Ramoremoli was specific that he will not change the plan they had already established with previous team coach Didier Da Rosa. He would rather add to them and navigate the process until final destination.
“I am fairly grateful to our interim coach as well, he has surely done great. He allowed us to carry on with what Da Rosa had started. For his part, he assured us of a safe landing to AFcon and he has surely delivered,” the BFA CEO elaborated.
When questioned on whether the job of head coach will be awarded to Ramoremoli, Mfolo was non-committal. He said it was not for him but for the BFA board to make that final decision.
While Ramoreboli duly gets the plaudits for the team’s qualification, the BFA CEO said gratitude must also be given to the team’s immediate past head coach Da Rosa. He said it was the former head coach who presented the BFA a good plan to qualify for Afcon when he was appointed.
“After studying the team, he showed us that Zebra’s strength lays in defensive playing and he was right. The same tactics that qualified us in 2012 are the same we used as well during the qualifying stage. Even though he left us midway I will be selfish not to acknowledge what he has done for us,” says Mfolo.
