04 Sep 2023

 As the senior national team, the Zebras shift focus to the FIFA world cup qualifiers, the team is rocked by cases of indiscipline.

This follows the Zebras departure to Tunisia for AFCON qualifier, which is just to honour the fixtures given that two countries from Group J, Tunisia and Equatorial Guinea have already booked a spot in the AFCON finals to be played in Ivory Coast next year.

The Zebras coach Mogomotsi Mpote has confirmed that he has dropped three Gaborone United players, Thero Setsile, Mothusi Johnson and Thabo Motswagole owing to indiscipline.

He said they were currently building for the World Cup qualifiers therefore in would be dangerous for him to start the campaign with players who lack discipline in the national team.

“I thought it was a wise decision to drop them because they had absconded from the camp, so we had to find their replacement,” he said.

Mpote said he always emphasised to the national team players that they were the face of the nation, and therefore it was important for them to behave well on and off the field.

The coach said dropping the trio would send a strong message to all those who would be called for the national duty in the future that they were not on ‘honeymoon’ but were representing the country.

“I am going to try by all means to go to the next campaign with focused and dedicated players, who know what it means to represent the country.

Any player who displays indiscipline would be dropped because there are so many players hungry to wear the national team colours,” he said.

He said he had replaced Setsile and Johnson with Tawana Mbakile and Thabang Khuduga of Security Systems and Gaborone United respectively, adding that he was confident that they would fill the void.

“I called them up in the COSAFA games and the African Nations Championship, like I always say we are trying to build a pool of players that would be in a position to fit and gel well in the national team,” he said

Talking about the game, he said preparations went well, adding that he was positive that the players would apply themselves.

“Remember we have World Cup qualifiers starting in November, so our intension in this game is to win or atleast salvage a point, and that will guide me for the coming games,” he said. ENDS