STANLEY TSHOSANE: THE MAN WHO ACHIEVED THE IMPOSSIBLE

By Katlego Mechidi

“Hunter” as affectionately known in the football circle is indeed a virtuous hunter, he surprisingly hunted the joy for Batswana back in the last decade and he is the man who achieved the impossible in Botswana football.

For a long time since independence Botswana was well known for being the punching bag of other nations with the transition of European coaches trying to turn up the misfortunes for the mighty zebras

The son of the soil, Stanley “Hunter” Tshosane was the manager of the team previously in 2002 and was officially appointed ten years later in 2008 as the head coach, the rest is history.

During Tshosane’s time as the national team gaffer he did wonders and one any other coach did what he did for the Zebras.

The teams all time winning record was in 2002 when coach of the time Stanley Tshosane led them to a   6-2 thrashing of Swaziland.

STANLEY TSHOSANE 2012 MIRACLE

Ten years later in 2012 ‘Hunter’ tattooed himself in the hearts of Batswana by becoming the first national team coach to take the team to Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals after becoming the surprise leader of their group.

They walloped Chad and Tunisia home and away, and drew with Togo and Malawi home and way finishing with 16 points.

Under Tshosane’s tutelage, there was a sudden change of fortune for the Zebras which saw the team’s FIFA ranks massively improving from 101 to 53^rd  in the world and 12^th in Africa in 2010 just after two years of his time as the boss which is the team’s highest rankings ever.

Botswana was an unknown entity in the football world but in 2011 it scooped the African team of the year award with Stanley Tshosane being a nominee for the best coach even though he didn’t manage to walk away with it.

The gaffer was sacked in October 2013 following a string of poor results in official competitions by the team.

Surely ‘Hunter’ will always remain in the hearts of Batswana for what he did for the nation and will always be celebrated as he achieved all which was not possible for all the managers who tried their luck in the national team.