Ban dents Galaxy, Orapa CAF chances
FRANCISTOWN: Orapa United coach, Mogomotsi ‘Teenage’ Mpote has bemoaned government’s recent decision to halt sport activities as it will affect his side’s preparations for the CAF Confederations Cup.
On Monday, the government announced a temporary ban on sporting activities, except for national teams or local teams participating in international competitions. The Ostriches play AS Mangasport of Gabon in the preliminary round of the competition.
On the other hand, Jwaneng Galaxy will be away to DFC Beme Arrondissement of the Central African Republic (CAR) in the CAF Champions League.
Orapa and Galaxy will face their opponents on the weekend of September 10-12, 2021, in the first of the two legs. Both United and Galaxy are allowed to train but cannot play friendlies unless they are playing amongst themselves.
“We were expecting to play more friendlies to prepare for the Confederations Cup. The intention was to play against Morupule Wanderers and other teams in Serowe over the weekend. We were also planning a
friendly match against Gaborone teams towards the end of the month.
Under our preparations for the Confederations Cup, we were to play the last friendly against Galaxy during the first week of 31
September. It is inevitable that players will not be match fit when we meet AS Sport,” Mpote said. United played two friendly matches against Premiership rookies, Sua Flamingoes last weekend before football activities were halted until September 7. Mpote added that without friendly matches, it means the technical team will be unable to assess the weakness of the players and then put remedial measures ahead of the Confederations Cup tie.
“We will see if we can play a friendly or two with Galaxy before our CAF match. The challenge is that movement between zones is currently restricted.” Galaxy spokesperson, Tankiso Morake told Mmegi Sport that the chances of doing well in the Champions League will be affected by a lack of friendly matches. “We had hoped that playing many friendlies will help sharpen the players for the Champions League match.
The coach also wanted to use several friendlies to try new combinations as we have signed new players. We had already played several friendlies before football activities were halted,” Morake said.
United will start their campaign at home, while ‘Galaxy Stars’ will be away to Arrondissement. The return legs will be played on the weekend of September 17-19.