The Young Zebras are out of both competitions following losses to Egypt and Zimbabwe. Nare played the qualifiers without some of his key men because of club commitments and a busy schedule. The team travelled to face Zimbabwe in Harare with only 13 players and suffered a 4-1 loss. Township Rollers' right-back, Simisane Mathumo, Extension Gunners' winger, Kgololo Leteane and UB Kicks' Edwin Motlhagodi were some of the key players that remained behind. Nare had wanted to use them in the starting line-up. "It was a badly planned trip that went terribly wrong. We never competed; we gave Zimbabwe a lot of space. The boys appeared nervous. I feel the players lacked composure against quality opponents (in the two campaigns); it was always difficult to get quality opponents for preparatory matches so we had to play Premiership teams or Lesotho and South Africa twice.That was not enough considering the boys were assembling for the first time," Nare said.
The bulk of the Young Zebras' players are students and Nare had to conduct training sessions as early as 4:00am. The players complained about the early training hours. The BMC coach blames the Premier League Committee and some clubs for not being supportive during the two campaigns. "We never had enough players in camp and it made the campaign difficult. The Premier League (Committee) was never supportive of the campaigns saying the competitions were outside the FIFA calendar. In other countries, they accommodate Under-23s even though the competitions do not fall under the FIFA calendar. We played the game on a Sunday, but here it was always a Friday. If your own people cannot support you, it is difficult," he said.
