BFA confirms Pharaohs friendly

THATO KALA
Correspondent | Thursday May 2, 2013 00:00

 

The Zebras visit the Pharaohs in Cairo on June 4, three days before they host Ethiopia at the New Lobatse Stadium.They play Ethiopia on June 8 before hosting Cape Verde the following weekend, with both games set to be played at the New Lobatse Stadium.

BFA chief executive officer (CEO), Keith Masters confirmed the Egypt friendly saying it would give the team good preparation.'We will play Egypt in Cairo on  June 4. We feel obligated to play the game and it should be good preparation for the team,' Masters told Mmegi Sport.

Masters went on to confirm that the two World Cup qualifiers will both be played at the New Lobatse.'We will have Ethiopia and then Central African Republic (CAR) the following week and both games will be played at Lobatse,' he said.Stanley Tshosane said he was happy with the arrangement saying the remaining games were still important despite the disappointing run in the campaign.

The Zebras are out of contention after playing one draw and losing twice in the 2014 campaign.They sit at the bottom of Group A with one point, six adrift of leaders, Ethiopia.They started off with a 2-0 loss to Central African Republic (CAR before a draw against Bafana Bafana in Gaborone. In Addis Ababa, they were handed their second loss of the campaign, a narrow 1-0 result at the hands of Ethiopia.

The Pharaohs friendly international has been on the radar for quite some time. Proposals had been made for it to be played before the Zebras travelled to Addis Ababa but the match had to be moved forward.The development means the Zebras will play three games in June with the African Nations Championships (CHAN) two-legged qualifier against Zambia moved to July and August.

Exactly three weeks after the match against CAR, the Zebras will travel to Lusaka for the COSAFA Senior Challenge Cup, which is set to run from July 6 to 21 and will be held in Lusaka and Ndola.Thereafter, the Zebras will play the CHAN qualifier against the former African champions, Zambia.

The final World Cup qualifier will be played on September 6 against Bafana in South Africa.Tshosane said he would use the local-based players who are already in the system for the CHAN and COSAFA competitions with just a few additions.He reiterated that he is building a team around the young fellows.