BOTSWANA NEEDS 10 YEARS TO QUALIFY FOR AFCON-KEAGAKWA
BY: Kabelo Seleka
Botswana Senior National football team needs only 10 years to qualify for Africa Cup of Nations(AFCON), says eBotswana sports anchor City Keagakwa.
The sentiments by Keagakwa the football analyst are motivated by Botswana’s ambitions to qualify for the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations 2021 edition at Cameroon.
TALKING POINTS
- Botswana needs a competitive football league
- It belongs with the big five
- Football is a generational sport
BOTSWANA NEEDS A COMPETITIVE FOOTBALL LEAGUE
Keagakwa narrated to SPORTSNATION that to achieve this dream, a competitive football league must be enacted. He noted that with a competitive elite football, the national team coach will be spoilt for choice in selecting his men in the quest to take on other African countries.
“We simply need to have a competitive league, proper development structures, not just talking about robust development plans, but to have people on the ground working, The coach will then have players who are better technically, tactically and physically, a bit of personality and character, remember a national team coach normally gets a maximum of six days with his players so it is difficult to turn average players into world beaters in such a short period of time, said Keagakwa.”
Moreover, Keagakwa noted that it does not matter who the national team coach picks for international duties, said that what matters is planning and preparing in advance and giving the current coach support.
THE ZEBRAS BELONGS WITH THE BIG 5
In the past, football coach Rudolf Zapata boldly told SPORTSNATION that Botswana senior national team belongs in the top five of African football. He opined that Botswana has talented players who need to be programmed into world-class superstars.
“This country has 30 very competitive players and they have another 20 players who I believe that they can take Botswana to the next level, the most important thing is to have a program and support the youngsters, stated Zapata.”
BOTSWANA CAN QUALIFY FOR AFCON
A passionate football fan Botho Nthokwane has explained to this publication that continentally football has regressed and every nation stands an equal chance to qualify anytime. He said gone are the days whereby Cameroon, Ivory Coast, and Egypt were powerhouses of Africa.
Nthokwane exclaimed that the ground is fair since no team is more dominant than others. He argued that luck comes to play thus it will not be surprising for Botswana to qualify for AFCON 2021 amid poor football from the team.
IT MAY TAKE BOTSWANA 100 YEARS TO QUALIFY FOR AFCON
On the contrary, Black Master FC Chairman Moreetsi Kediseng commented that football is a generational sport. He argued that it might take Botswana another 50 or 100 years to qualify for Afcon. Kediseng highlighted that just like Brasil in the past dominating world football, today they are no more at that level of football.
Kediseng`s argument is based on the fact that Brasil to date still has the best players in the world but still fails to win the World Cup just like Argentina.
Botswana made a historic first-time AFCON qualification back in 2012 co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
