Double blow for Zebras

THATO KALA
Correspondent | Thursday August 29, 2013 00:00

 

 The Zebras went into camp on Sunday albeit without their GU teammates who include Tebogo Sembowa, Noah Maposa, Jackie Mothatego, Alphonse Madisaotsile and Moemedi 'Jomo' Moatlhaping.The five are key to coach Stanley Tshosane's side and their absence leaves him with only 14 players in camp. Add to that, DR Congo outfit CS Don Bosco started their pre-season tour on Monday when they travelled to Angola.The club has asked the trio of Dirang Moloi, Phenyo Mongala and Jerome Ramatlhakwana, who all turn out for them, to join the rest of the team for the tour.

Tshosane had thought the players were still on the off-season break as it is not clear when the league in DRC will kick off with plans to alter their league programme.The Zebras play Uganda on Saturday in Gaborone before facing Malawi on Tuesday as part of preparations for the 2014 World Cup qualifier against Bafana Bafana in Durban. The match is a must-win for the Zebras. The Zebras still stand a chance to go through to the next round of the qualifiers if they beat Bafana and Central Africa Republic stun Ethiopia.'It is quite a challenging situation because the Gaborone United players have not joined camp. I had called eight of them and most of them are key in the team. The DRC boys are also in but we have a challenge because their club wants them to join a pre-season tour in Angola,' Tshosane told Mmegi Sport. He said they were still negotiating to see if they can keep the DRC-based players until after the Bafana tie. 'We have written them asking to keep the players until after the game. We expect a response from them at least today,' he said.

GU indicated they would not release their players after the COSAFA Cup and CHAN competitions disturbed their off-season plans.The club has the right to keep its players and is only obliged to release them five days before an official international game. Tshosane had hoped to strike some agreements with local clubs to release their players ahead of the friendly internationals and Bafana game.'How do we do combinations when the key players are not there. The GU players I had called are important, so are the South Africa-based players but they are all not there. It is no use training players who will not play (against Bafana),' Tshosane said. The Bafana tie is set for September 7.