African Football

The rise of Botswan in African Football continues. In a space of two weeks, the young Zebra's (the Botswana Under 23 National team) couched by Major Bright (a local couch) knocked Angola out of the African Game qualifiers and followed that up by knocking the fancy Tunisians out of the Olympic Qualifiers.
For the Angolan Game, the young Zebras won the first leg played in Gaborone 2-0. During the return leg, they held their own sway for almost 80minutes, until one of their players was sent off with barely 10mins of normal play left. The Angolans took this opportunity to score two goals in 10mins to force the game into penalties, but the Zebras were not to be denied.

A week and a half later, Bostwana hosted Tunisia in the return match of the olympic qualifiers, needing a win to go through. The first leg had ended goaless.
On arrival, the Tunisian couch was confident of victory, on the basis that his team that played the first leg in Tunis had been reinforced by two key players.

On the night, the Zebras scored an early first half goal that proved to be the winning goal that saw them through to the next round at the expense of Tunisia. The stadium was packed full with expectations, and the fans were not disappointed.
It should be remembered that both Angola and Tunisia represented the continent in last year's(2006) FIFA World Cup in Germany.

Tomorrow, Sunday 25th March, the full national team hosts Burundi in the African Cup of Nations qualifiers, and tickets are at a premium as Batswana are rushing in from all corners of the large country to watch their team continue its winning ways. At this rate, it will be a safe bet that Botswana will make its first apparence in a Major finals at the 2010 African Cup of Nations Finals. To go to CAF page: http://www.cafonline.com/

N. Forcheh
reporting from Gaborne, Botswana