Though the Zebras were under pressure for the larger part of the game, the boys deserve a pat on the shoulder. Playing in front of a hostile Lesotho crowd was not an easy thing, but the boys stood their ground.
The absence of defensive midfielder Mogogi Gabonamong and Pius Kolagano nearly cost us the game. Goalkeeper and captain Modiri Marumo was the hero of the day when he stopped three crucial penalties to help the Zebras sail through to the quarters for the second time running. This is why in our mind, he deserved to be the player of the match, an award that went to a Lesotho mid-fielder.
Thumbs-up also to coach Jelusic Veselin. He must be a happy man the Botswana Football Association (BFA) is increasingly showing faith in him after calls were made to drop him from custodianship of the Zebras.
Since beating western neighbours Namibia 1-0 during the first round of last year’s competition, Zebras seem to have broken the COSAFA Cup jinx. Before beating Namibia, the Zebras had gone seven years without winning a game in this regional tournament. This should have acted as an important lesson to the BFA: that since the team had a permanent coach, it has done consistently better than in the days of temporary, short-term coaches for the Zebras.
After beating Lesotho, surely the national football team should be looking beyond the quarterfinals. Botswana has to wait until May 9 to know its next opponents.
This means BFA will have to arrange a number of competitive friendly games before the quarterfinal clash to put the team in good shape. Secondly, BFA has to help the technical department of the team get all the players it needs for the quarterfinal clash after what transpired before the Lesotho game, when some regular and dependable players in the national squad could not make it to the crucial game.
Lastly, the Zebras supporters who were mostly dressed in national colours, must be congratulated for their discipline while watching the Lesotho game. For the entire game, they were on their feet singing and dancing. This went a long way in reducing the pressure of home-ground adavantage from our heroes.
We hope Zebras will keep up the winning streak and we will keep on rallying behind the team in large numbers as we did in Setsoto Stadium in Maseru on Sunday.
