Young Zebras going for the kill against Namibia
Kabelo Boranabi | Friday April 20, 2018 13:10
Speaking at a press conference before the team’s departure to Namibia, Stanojlovic said his charges have been responding well after a two-week long training camp.
“The players are disciplined, they are working and they are giving it 100% in training. I am happy with how they are responding. We are going there for a win and we need to score goals.
Namibia is a very good team, but I think we are ready,” he said. The team’s assistant coach, Michael Mogaladi said he is impressed that the team has been able to score some goals in practice matches. He said the players’ confidence in front of goal would help his side get a positive result on Sunday.
“Any draw that has goal would mean we go through. I’m positive because in the last games, we have been able to score. We lost 3-2 to Sharps (Shooting Stars) but I am happy that we were able to convert the chances we got,” he said. Mogaladi further said despite playing the crucial encounter away, he believes his side has the advantage, as they did not concede in the first leg. “We played Namibia and we managed to keep a clean sheet, to them they were celebrating but to me, I feel that we have the advantage because we need to score to qualify for the next round.
I feel we would do better when we get there, we saw who they played and we feel that’s how they are going to approach. They use power play; I do not think they would change much. The boys have shown determination since our last match and hoping for a positive results,” Mogaladi said.
The team left for Namibia on Tuesday evening and is expected back on Monday. The winner of the two-legged fixture will face Congo in the second round of the qualifiers. Botswana has failed to qualify for any major junior tournament since 2009 when the Under-17s reached the African Junior Championships finals held in Morocco.