ZEBRAS, AMOS DELIVER SOOTHING NEWS
It has been a great weekend of sports for the nation suffering the effects of COVID-19. The Zebras demolished Lesotho 4-0 in the ongoing COSAFA Cup on Saturday while middle distance runner, Nijel Amos clocked a world-lead in
800m to win the Monaco Diamond League
It was no jet lag day for Tumisang Orebonye on Saturday as he fired the Zebras to a 4-0 win over Lesotho at the ongoing COSAFA Cup. The striker scored his first ever hattrick in Zebras’ colours against Lesotho while Thatayaone Kgamanyane scored the other goal. Orebonye had just joined the team less than 24 hours before the Saturday noon kick off.
He alongside club teammate, Kabelo Seakanyeng were delayed by the Moroccan side, Olympique Club de Khouriga’s push for elite league promotion. Orebonye became the second Zebras’ player to score a hat trick at the competition after Jerome Ramatlhakwana did so against Lesotho in a 3-3 draw played in 2013. The 24-year-old striker was given a starting berth on Saturday in place of Segolame Boy while Kgamanyane was dropped into a less advanced role from Tuesday’s 1-0 defeat to South Africa.
Thato Kebue replaced captain Thatayaone Ditlhokwe in the heart of the defence making it the only change in the back four that played in front of Ezekiel Morake. ‘Teenage’ began his rout with an excellent strike from inside the box beating the goalkeeper to the top corner just 28 minutes into the game.
He doubled his tally on the brink of half time from the spot after Mbatshi Elias was brought down by the goalkeeper inside the box. The hat-trick was completed in the second half when the goalkeeper rushed off his line but failed to collect the ball, gifting Orebonye a simple task of tapping into an unguarded goal post.
Kgamanyane added the fourth with a sublime finish just few minutes before full time to complete the haul. “We are very happy because we experienced an improvement from our last game.
In the last game we played well but we were not effective in the last third and around the prime target area. We have been working on that for the past two days and I am very happy that it paid dividends today,” Zebras interim coach, Letang ‘Rasta’ Kgengwenyane told COSAFA TV on Saturday.
Rasta’s troops are now back in contention for a semifinal spot after the Saturday game. The team has moved on from the bottom of the Group A to third, just three points behind leaders Eswatini.
The Zebras take on misfiring Zambia tomorrow before they end the group stages’ round against Eswatini on Wednesday.