Tshosane aims to redeem pride

FREDERICK KEBADIRETSE
Staff Writer | Friday May 31, 2013 00:00

 

Tshosane told Mmegi Sport that they want to try everything possible to get good results in their remaining fixtures. Despite languishing at the bottom of group A without a single win, he said all is not lost and the Ethiopia tie is crucial because if they win it, they will have four points, three behind Ethiopia who are group leaders that also includes South Africa and Central Africa Republic (C.A.R).

He said he is keeping his fingers crossed that he gets a full strength squad before leaving to Egypt this Sunday for a friendly match. The Zebras play the Pharaohs on Tuesday and fly back home immediately after to continue preparations for the qualifiers. They will first play Ethiopia on June 8th before welcoming C.A.R on June 15th. The squad assembled briefly in camp on Tuesday before some players were released for midweek league action.  'My concern right now is players picking up injuries in the league matches, luckily we welcomed Gaborone United players to camp this morning after their Wednesday night game and none was injured,' he said.

Yesterday, three Township Rollers players were also released to join their club for a league tie against TAFIC. The BDF XI's trio of Mompati Thuma, Ndiyapo Letsholathebe and Lemponye Tshireletso will also be released today for club duty. This means the full squad will only assemble on Saturday and leave for Egypt the next day.Tshosane said the midweek league fixtures have hugely disrupted his preparation schedule, as he could not be in camp with the whole team.

The coach said he had planned to have a long camp from May 5-19th with local based players but this was not possible because teams needed their players for league matches, especially during the week. He said there was nothing they could do to alleviate the situation because the league also had a schedule that needs to be followed.He said he would have preferred to train with the full squad for a while and play another friendly match before Egypt to try out the combinations they were preparing.He further said the Pharaohs friendly would then be used to make final adjustments before the qualifiers based on the outcome of the first friendly. 'Preparations need time, you can not just assemble and prepare a good squad in one day,' he said.

He said despite this, he is expecting the team to pull up their socks and win their next two qualifiers at home.Tshosane should be happy with the arrival of South African based quartet of Joel Mogorosi, Ofentse Nato, Mogakolodi Ngele and Kabelo Dambe. They have just completed their season last week and will be expected to bring the necessary depth and experience in the squad after capping a fine season in the PSL.

Dirang Moloi, Phenyo Mongala and Jerome Ramatlhakwane were also expected to arrive yesterday from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where they just joined Cercle Sportif Don Bosco. Meanwhile tickets for the Ethiopia and C.A.R games will go on sale today after they could not be printed yesterday as the BFA had announced earlier this week. Tickets are sold for P100 for the grandstand and P50 elsewhere. From today until June 8th, there will be a special for customers purchasing tickets for both matches. They will buy tickets for C.A.R match at a half price.