Gaborone — The Zebras are out of the HOLLYWOODBETS COSAFA tournament after playing to a goalless draw against Namibia at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, South Africa on Tuesday.
The Zebras were in Group A, which was led by South Africa with seven points, while Botswana finished on position two with four points.
On position three was eSwatini with three points, while Namibia was at the bottom of the log with two points.
Of the three games the Zebras played, they won one against eSwatini, drew one against Namibia, lost to the host South Africa.
Overall, the team scored only two goals and conceded two, something which coach Mogomotsi Mpote said was worrisome.
"I am worried with the scoring rate, but all this comes from our league. We are facilitating chances but not scoring goals," he said.
Mpote said strikers should be taught to be positional when they get to the eighteenth area, and they must have hard to shoot mentality and the right technique to take the shot. The other thing, he said, the strikers were goal shy, adding that it was therefore important that coaches at club level should address such by working closely with the players to prepare them well for the national level.
Furthermore, he said it was time that all the local coaches held a symposium so that he could share his plan and concerns with them.
"If we have strikers who score avalanche of goals at their club, it will be easier for me to work on perfection because I will not be teaching them at the national level how they should kick, position themselves and how to make offensive runs," he said.
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RB2 sport presenter, Solomon Kakuwa, who is with the team in Durban said in an interview that Zebras had a serious challenge with scoring goals.
"We played very well in this tournament and saw young stars get an opportunity but it's evident that we need another Joel Mogorosi and Jerome Ramatlhakwana's quality in the squad. We have seen what they did in terms of scoring goals. Today, we don't pose any danger to the opponent," he said.
Kakuwa said the Zebras could play defensively and offensively but not scoring goals.
"Over the years, we have produced good goalkeepers and the question is when are we going to be so intentional about producing top forwards?" he said.
Talking about the COSAFA tournament, he said it was well organised.
He noted that the tournament had changed the structure to playing from groups then straight to the semi-finals, saying that would improve the level of competition in the tournament.
BOPA
