United scooped the cup on Saturday after defeating Security Systems in the final. The Ostriches had brushed aside league leaders Gaborone United (GU) 5-4 on penalties in the semifinal. The victory came with a cash reward of P250 000. Orapa occupy the third position in the league with 42 points from 24 matches, which is a lower tally on account of their status in local football. League leaders, GU have 57 points with a game in hand.
"In football every team goes through a very difficult phase or slump. After our league losses against Police XI and Security Systems, I sat down with my players to try to cheer them up. Although it is still early, their attitude and morale seem to be changing for the better. I am optimistic that they will do well in the last six games of the league. We want to push as hard as we can to finish the league in a respective position," he said.
Mpote added, “ My players have been representing the country in CAF club competitions for some time. They are among the best. I still believe in them. They cannot be bad players overnight.”
A few weeks ago, Mpote was slapped with suspension by the Ostriches management after a string of poor results. The management said it was investigating the source of the poor results. Many questioned Mpote’s suspension arguing that although the team was not doing well it was not entirely playing badly.
However, Mpote feels that his suspension was not justified. He was reinstated after missing one fixture.
" After playing CAF Confederations Cup games I knew that we will hit a slump. The change of environment meant that we needed time to adapt because we were now reverting to playing teams that knew and planned for us very well," he said.
Meanwhile Orapa United dominated the Mascom Top Charity Cup awards. Midfielder Tapiwa Nyamanjiwa who was instrumental in both wins over weekend scooped the player of the tournament award while goalkeeper Lesenya Malapela was voted the best goalkeeper. Malapela was the hero of the semifinal after saving a penalty against Gaborone United. He did produce two key saves against Systems in the final. There was no award for the top goal scorer.
