Mmegi Sport: Please sum up your AFCON experience?
Tshosane: After our qualification, I forwarded my plan to the Botswana Football Association (BFA), which included playing friendly matches against strong opponents and training camps, even outside the continent. I also recommended that we minimise or resolve issues that might affect preparations. I don't think it went the way I wanted. When you make a request, you do not expect to get everything though. I wanted us to approach the (AFCON) finals differently from the qualifiers. I am aware that we were too defensive. We were deliberately not playing entertaining football. We were looking at our opponents. The idea was to spend more time together and change our play (for the finals), and this does not happen overnight. I wanted to use the period around July to September to implement that. Remember that the association was complaining about financial constraints. It is only against Nigeria that I got all foreign-based players. We could not implement our plan as we were under pressure. We had a good training camp in South Africa and the boys were very committed. They even told me that we were going to beat Ghana, no matter what happens. They even ruled out a draw. But everything broke to pieces just before the Zimbabwe game (on January 7). The issue of unpaid allowances broke the players morale. The truth has to be told. The players had expected their allowances when we were in South Africa, but they went through Christmas and New Year empty-handed. This was despite promises that they will get the money. There was a time when the players wanted to boycott the Zimbabwe (practice) match arguing that they could not play if their allowances were not paid. I am bringing up this issue because it was the start of problems. We went to Cameroon where the boys were made to share beds. The issue of accommodation cropped up again in Gabon. It was later sorted though. Before our first game, the players had requested that their surnames, not first names, be written on their jerseys. This was not to be. Some of the names were misspelt. The players refused to use the jerseys without properly written names. There was a mix-up with the kit registration as well. For the second game, we were supposed to wear different jerseys, but the players were ordered to bring the kit they wore in the first game against Ghana so it could be washed (and used for the second game). The players said they had exchanged it with other players in the first game. They felt that they were not being taken seriously. This was at a time when other teams were being promised huge amounts in bonuses. The players were demoralised. I tried to convince them to play against Guinea telling them to remember President Ian Khama's words that they should put the country first. Finally they agreed to play. I think we did our best looking at many factors. I was touched by the way Batswana supported us, which is a challenge to all stakeholders, be it BFA, the sponsors, the technical team or the players. They will not accept such results (losses) in future if we qualify.
