Mpote keeps faith in young guns for CHAN tie
Kabelo Boranabi | Saturday July 23, 2022 06:00
To this day, the quote is on the wall of the Manchester United dressing room and seemingly Zebras' interim head coach, Mogomotsi 'Teenage' Mpote has borrowed from Busby's quote through his choice of the Zebras squad for the 2023 African Nations Championship preliminary round qualifier.
The Zebras open their campaign at the Obed Itani Chilume Stadium against visiting Eswatini tomorrow. Kick-off is at 4pm.
The CHAN tournament is open only to locally based players. Mpote and his charges have just returned from the COSAFA Cup played in Durban, and the coach has ignored calls to bring in some of the country's elite players.
The country is not blessed with a large foreign-based contingent with most of the key Zebras players plying their trade in the local league. Ahead of the COSAFA Cup, Mpote raised a few eyebrows with the inclusion of young players. The new faces included Gaborone United's (GU) duo of Gape Thibedi and Omphile Ramoagi who were used sparingly by the Reds.
Tlamelo Kolagano of Orapa United and Monty Enosa who had a breakthrough season with the newly promoted Eleven Angels were also part of the Zebras set-up. Mothusi Cooper, Lebogang Ditsele, Goitseone Phoko, and Thato Kebue were the only players with at least 10 caps before the Durban trip.
Moving on to the CHAN qualifiers, a tournament. which carries much more weight than the COSAFA Cup, Mpote has stuck to his young troops. He has called-up Holy Ghost's Thabang Khuduga who caught the eye in the second-tier league.
There has, however, been the experienced addition of Lesenya Malapela of Orapa United, Jwaneng Galaxy's Gape Mohutsiwa, and Thero Setsile of GU. Eswatini on the other hand is expected to boost its ranks following the omission of key players from the COSAFA Cup. The two teams met in Durban in the COSAFA Cup plate semi-finals with the Zebras emerging 2-0 victors.