Botswana chases success in 2009 Cosafa Senior Challenge

Coach Stanley Tshosane says the prestigious event affords his players the perfect opportunity to gain experience of tournament play, having been knocked out of the running for a place at the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola and 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

“We missed out on the Nations Cup and World Cup, so we are looking forward to taking our squad to the COSAFA Senior Challenge to expose them to playing in a competition format,” Tshosane says. “We have a young team, made up mostly from the Under-23s and this tournament is vital for their future development towards the senior national side.”

Botswana football is looking to rebuild its national team as they head towards the qualification campaign for the 2012 Nations Cup, and there have been some promising signs of late. They drew 0-0 and 1-1 with 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup finalists New Zealand and Iran respectively, and have also just completed a tour to Asia, where they lost 4-1 to the Chinese, a score line which does reflect the pattern of the game.

“We feel now is the time to have a look at new players in preparations for the next Nations Cup qualifying campaign, and, of course, the 2014 World Cup to be held in Brazil,” Tshosane says. “We have had the same group of players together for the last six or seven years, and we want to add to that experience with some fresh young talent.”

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Asked how he rated his country’s chances of getting out of their group in Bulawayo, Tshosane says his team is expected to reach the quarterfinals.

“If you look at our opponents – Comoros, Seychelles and Swaziland – all those countries are placed below us on the FIFA World Rankings, so there is certainly an expectation from the people back home that we make the knockout rounds.

“The feeling seems to be that we are in an easy group, but anybody in football knows that there are no easy matches at this level and we expect our opponents to be very competitive. I am sure it would be a feather in their cap to beat Botswana, so we need to be on guard.”

Tshosane has also welcomed the decision to play the tournament in Zimbabwe.

“We have had the last few tournaments in South Africa and I think it is good for the players that it is moved around a bit as it opens them up to new countries and new experiences that perhaps they can use in the future.”