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Botswana: Can Chiefs Continue Their Dominance?
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Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
18 July 2008
Posted to the web 18 July 2008
Tshepo Molwane
Are Mochudi Centre Chiefs going to add another silverware to their trophy cabinet? This must be the question on the lips of most soccer fans ahead of Kgafela Kgafela Coronation Soccer Spectacular at the National Stadium tomorrow.
Chiefs take on Gaborone United (GU) in the opening semi-final at 10am. The Kgatleng giants have been in a scintillating form since August last year and have not lost any competitive game since then. This has seen Magosi winning the Premiership and going 30 games unbeaten in the league, a record that will go down in the history books. Just last month, Chiefs proved to be a hard nut to crack when they won the annual Orange Kabelano Charity Cup, whitewashing ECCO City Greens 2-0 in the final.
Chiefs go into tomorrow's game as clear favourites and should get an extra motivation from the fact that the tournament has been organised to raise funds for the coronation of Bakgatla heir Kgafela Kgafela, a known Chiefs' supporter. Though some people would argue that there is less at stake in this tournament, to Chiefs this is a big event and they would not want to lose their impressive record.
Though Magosi value the importance of keeping their record intact, Chiefs' coach Beston Chambeshi told Mmegi Sport yesterday that he expects to field a number of players who have been on the fringes in the past season when they won the championship. "It will give me a chance to see them in a game situation as we prepare for the Coca-Cola Cup. I would like to thank the organisers for coming up with the event as it will sharpen our fitness," he said.
The likes of Fred Pheko, Calvin Masire, Ofentse Motlogelwa, Nametso Oletile, and Thato Pilane are some of the players who had not been blooded. At the time of going to press, Chambeshi said that there were no new players in their camp who could make their debut during tomorrow's games. "Maybe next week, we will have some players," he said.
GU coach Mike Sithole said that although his players started coming for training this week, they are prepared to give the league champions a good run for their money. He said they have a couple of players who would like to impress the technical team and would definitely grab such an opportunity.
"But obviously Chiefs would have an advantage over us as they have been active since Kabelano Charity Cup," he said. Just like Chambeshi, the GU tactician believes that the games would help in preparing for the Coca-Cola Cup.
He pointed out that the likes of Ntesang 'Mirror' Ntesang and Ofentse Nato, who were part of the Under-20 team, which played Gabon last weekend, will not feature due to injuries. "But there are a number of youngsters in the team," he said.
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The good news is that Ronald Chikomo, who has been training with Extension Gunners, is back and is likely to have a run. Admission is P50 for the grand stands and P20 elsewhere.
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| Copyright © 2008 Mmegi/The Reporter. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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