Mmegi

Dambe, Piro remaining survivors from 2012 flight

Long serving: Dambe. PIC: KENNEDY RAMOKONE
Long serving: Dambe. PIC: KENNEDY RAMOKONE

The Zebras' AFCON plane has remained grounded since that historic trip to Equatorial Guinea and Gabon but will be up in the skies next year in December after a decade.

The pilots have changed and it is a totally new set of personnel but only two figures remain from the 2012 AFCON squad. Pontsho ‘Piro’ Moloi, currently serving as assistant coach alongside goalkeeper, Kabelo Dambe, are the only surviving members. This week, the Zebras secured a berth at the continental showpiece for only the second time in the country's history. Ahead of the trip to Morocco next year, Piro is set to be the only Motswana to make it to the AFCON finals as a player and a coach.

The Gaborone United (GU) mentor is tipped to keep his place in the Zebras’ technical team as the Botswana Football Association (BFA) leans towards appointing Morena Ramoreboli on a permanent basis. Moloi had just celebrated his 30th birthday when he was named to the 2012 AFCON squad in the summer of 2011. He was then a flamboyant winger and team captain of a trailblazing Mochudi Centre Chiefs side. The then cornrow-hair-styled forward was at the peak of his career and was one of the hottest wingers in the league. His side, Chiefs were at the time, chasing only their second league championship and proving to be a substantive rival to the then-dominant, Township Rollers. Despite being one of the leading goal scorers in the league then, Moloi was not regarded as a starter in Stan Tshosane’s history-making Zebras team. ‘Piro’ did not play a part in Zebras' opener against Ghana that ended in a 1-0 loss.

He, however, made an appearance from the bench in the infamous 6-0 drubbing by Guinea and started the 2-1 loss to Mali in the final group stages match. Moloi has since transitioned to coaching and has held assistant coach roles at Chiefs, Extension Gunners, and his current club, GU. The now 42-year-old enjoyed much of his coaching success with GU where he won the FA Cup twice and also has a league championship. Dambe, on the other hand, is still much active and is in the books of Rollers. In 2012, he had just broken into the Zebras senior squad after dominating the goalposts in the junior national teams. He, however, had a tougher assignment to oust then-number one, Modiri Marumo, for a starting role in the team. At the time, had been tipped as a future Zebras number one and the performances on the field echoed the claim.

The now 34-year-old has had stints in South Africa with the defunct Platinum Stars before returning home to Rollers. He has a silverware-laden career with Rollers and he is the team’s first-choice keeper. Like in 2012, Dambe is set for a backup role as Goitseone Phoko has taken over as the Zebras’ first-choice goalkeeper. From the entire 2012 AFCON squad, it is only Dambe and club teammate, Mogakolodi Ngele, who are still playing the game at the top level. Ngele has recently recovered from an injury and stands a chance to have a place in the 2025 team.

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