The Voice (Francistown)
Monnakgotla Mojaki
6 May 2008
Zebras coach Colywn Rowe should be a worried man as his charges prepare for the African Nations Championship against Zambia on Friday.
The Zebras go into this game after two friendly games against their South African counterparts. The South African team was made up of only Mvela first division players, save for only one Moroka Swallows player, Ramahlwe Mphathlele, who is not even a regular with his side.
Rowe didn't have time to train his boys ahead of the first of the two games against South Africa as he was away in Egypt attending an African coaches Symposium which made a postmortem of the Africa Cup of Nations.
The Briton describes the current camp as an awkward camp; this is made by various scenarios ranging from injuries to unavailability of all the Zebras players. The biggest of them all being that the premier league has games going on and players can't train for one week without interruptions that cant be avoided.
"I am not complaining but players are tired from their clubs and they have to play for the national team in a space of hours. This is not good but it is not an excuse. I don't have the power to change some of these things although I am not asking for any. We all have to understand that there is no Zebras without premier league but we also have to give the Zebras a chance," Rowe said at a press conference on Tuesday after his charges played a very disappointing game against their opponents who didn't have any international experience
Although the coach wants as many match practices as possible, it looks like the coming Africa Nations Championships have come at a wrong time. Rowe admitted having told the Egyptian media while in Egypt recently that while the competition is a good one with positives it hasn't helped in terms of its timing.
Throughout the press conference, the Zebras mentor looked more under-pressure than all the other times since coming to Botswana. When Voice Sport asked whether he was contemplating quitting any time soon, he frowned before explaining that football is a pressure game.
"This job is a pressure game. All the games we play are pressure games. Perhaps the only time we will not be under-pressure is against Ivory Coast because we will be the under-dogs. We will be under a different kind of pressure by then but all the same, I've got to handle the pressure. As a national coach you are always judged by results and I have to say there hasn't been enough publicity about our achievements. Now people don't know what we have achieved," Rowe explained
When asked whether he didn't want an assistant coach as a matter of urgency Rowe couldn't hide his expectation.
"It is of course nice to have people to lean on but as we speak I don't have anybody and I have no choice. I want to have one but I don't even choose who should come. I am told that we will be having one soon," Rowe told a media briefing
The Botswana Football Association (BFA) has been negotiating with former gaffer, Stanley Tshosane, but it looks like the negotiations are taking longer than expected. Two weeks ago it was expected that Tshosane would be in charge when Rowe left for Egypt but as things stand no one is in a position to explain what is going on as all authorities prefer to say there will be an announcement soon.
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