Zebras' campaign clatters to an anti-climax

| Tuesday June 11, 2013 00:00

 

Dirang Moloi returned to the grand stage to prove that he has few peers in his position. Stanley Tshosane's hands went up in despair after a routine defeat, which, however, this time was fatal. It marked the end of the Zebras' interest in the 2014 World Cup. The Ethiopians painstakingly applied the coup de grace, which was difficult to stomach for Tshosane and the sizeable crowd, which bothered to follow a campaign heavily dented by the opening day 2-0 loss to the Central Africa Republic (CAR).

Expectations were high when the draw was made, with CAR, Ethiopia and South Africa the other teams in the group. But Tshosane finds himself standing in the middle of a rubble-strewn campaign after a desperate attempt to stitch together the pieces failed at the new Lobatse Stadium on Saturday.Despite Tshosane's efforts to pilot the campaign to safer heights, Ethiopia sent the nation's faint hopes tail spinning, to effectively put Brazil 2014 out of sight. On Saturday, Tshosane was brave. He threw in two attacking midfielders, Jackie Mothathego and Dirang Moloi, leaving them without protection in the absence of holding midfielders, Mogogi Gabonamong and suspended, Ofentse Nato. Alphonse Modisaotsile, an option in the absence of the duo, was left to watch proceedings from the bench.

The coach further tinkered with his line-up when he withdrew an anonymous Ndiyapo Letsholathebe for an improved Oscar Ncenga.Phenyo Mongala, struggling to hit the right strides, which saw him earn a move to Orlando Pirates, still retained his place out wide on the left. Joel Mogorosi, with a R200,000 cheque for his efforts in the Telkom Cup still fresh in his mind, never put up a shift worth mentioning.As a result, the stage was left to returning Dirang Moloi who did not raise a sweat as he masterfully went about his duties. He was the rock upon  which the Zebras' attack was built, effortlessly finding his team mates to remind Tshosane what he missed for the larger portion of the campaign. The Ethiopians were hardly mesmerising but did the job efficiently. A sleek move produced the first goal after 33 minutes, before Kabelo Dambe's position gifted the visitors the second. The tall keeper was as good as among the spectators when Saladin Seid curled beautifully to kill the match as a contest just before the break. Tshosane, who will face fresh questions about his future, would be encouraged with what he saw in the second half as his side started knitting together clean passes. One such move saw Tebogo Sembowa claim a second successive goal at the same end after scoring against Mali last year. Mongala, who kept switching positions, received a pass in the middle and with quick thinking, sprayed the ball wide to maturing substitute, Galabgwe Moyana. The winger delivered a perfect ball for Sembowa to head past the stranded Ethiopian goalkeeper. But that appeared like a consolation goal, and it remained just that after 90 minutes and with the final whistle, the Zebras' hopes of making progress were blown away. Tshosane now has to shift focus to the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers. His promising start as Zebras' coach has been soiled by failure to clinch a berth at the 2013 AFCON finals, which South Africa hosted while the Brazil 2014 World Cup dreams have boomeranged. Added to that is the unsavoury winless run stretching back to March 2011.