Zebras struggle with match fitness
“If you look at Lesotho they have three or four players that ply their trade in the South African PSL. The Zebras are at a disadvantage as they do not have players like Kabelo Seakanyeng and Tumisang Orebonye, who have been busy in Morocco’s lower division. Both Seakanyeng and Orebonye are robust players and they could be a good addition to the Zebras in the attack,” the experienced coach said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of victimisation, the coach further questioned why, Tsotso Ngele was not selected to the national team as he has been partially active under his then TTM PSL team.
“The game against Lesotho this Saturday will be too early for Botswana and their fitness will be in doubt as they played a highly defensive and physically taxing match just two days back.”
According to the knowledgeable technitian who has worked on both the Botswana Football League ( BFL) and lower divisions, the Zebras showed fatigue in less than 80 minutes when playing against SA. “You could even see that the goal that was scored by Kagiso Malinga completely eluded Ezekiel Morake because he was lacking match fitness.”
According to the football coach, the back four defensive line, consisting of Mothusi Johnson, Thatayaone Ditlhokwe, Mosha Gaolaolwe and Leinanyane generally gave a good performance against Bafana Bafana. Despite praising the defensive line selected by Kgengwenyane, the coach said Bafana Bafana exploited the left flank and scored the only goal of the game.
Furthermore, the coach, was highly critical of Kgengwenyane’s choice of Thatayaone Kgamanyane as a lone striker, while Segolame Boy played behind him as attacking midfielder and Thero Setsile was playing in the right flank.
“There could have been a different outcome if Mpho Kgomo was the lone striker while Thero Setsile and Segolame Boy played in both flanks. If you look at Setsile, Boy and Kgamanyane, you will notice that they have similar strengths and playing them in such a formation is not necessarily effective,” he argued. Speaking after the game this past Tuesday, Kgengwenyane said the Zebras generally played well even though he was not happy with results.
“We still need to improve in terms of entries into the last third, we also need to improve how we add man power in the prime area or 18 yard area, so we have numbers to create and finish.
This game has given us a good start in terms of match fitness, if we want up our fitness, we need to play games to develop match fitness.”