Brilliant Zebras stun Guinea in Ghetto
What a difference four days makes.
After falling to a meek defeat against the Mambas of Mozambique on Thursday, let down by a shaky Defence and a misfiring strike force, few gave the Zebras a prayer against Guinea on Tuesday.
Fresh from a 2-1 win over Uganda and ranked 68 places higher than their hosts, with a first XI that all ply their trade in Europe, the West Africans arrived in Francistown bristling with confidence.
They left with that confidence in tatters, stunned by a brilliant Botswana as Didier Da Rosa’s French Revolution roared into life in thrilling fashion.
The Frenchman made five changes to his starting eleven, wielding the axe across the field as the Zebras looked to reignite their 2026 World Cup dream.
Although this was only the second game of a 10-match qualifying campaign, it already had the feel of a ‘must-win’ encounter.
The two nations last met in 2012, when the National Elephants trampled all over BW, dishing out a 6-1 thrashing at AFCON.
On that infamous day in Franceville, a then 21-year-old Mogakolodi ‘Tsotso’ Ngele played the last 18 minutes.
11 years later, the Township Rollers star featured from the start, rewarded for his second-half showing against Mozambique when he grabbed a goal and an assist. While he didn’t have the same impact this time, the veteran brought a calming influence to the Zebras midfield and appears to be a crucial part of Da Rosa’s plans going forward.
After the loss to the Mambas, Coach Da Rosa highlighted his side’s defensive shortcomings, noting they had made it far too easy for Elias Gaspar and co.
There were no such problems against Guinea.
With the excellent Mosha Gaololwe pushed into midfield, young Tebogo Kopelang, 21, came in to partner captain fantastic, Thatayaone Ditlhokwe in the heart of the defence.
Although the Guineans pressed and probed, expertly zipping the ball around the pitch with quick, slick passes, Botswana remained rock solid, working hard to keep their shape.
It meant that despite dominating possession, Guinea did not manage a single effort at goal in the first-half!
The best chance of the opening 45 fell to Molaodi Tlhalefang, who shot narrowly wide, the Gaborone United frontman going for glory when he should have slipped his strike partner, Tumisang Orebonye through instead.
The pattern continued after the break, Guinea bossing the ball but the Zebras remaining compact.
They were nearly undone just before the hour mark, star striker, Serhou Guirassy rising highest to meet Naby Oulare’s cross but seeing his header bounce back off the crossbar.
The bar shook, Botswana’s belief did not.
It capped a frustrating game for Guirassy, who has been in sensational form for his club, Stuttgart FC in the Bundesliga. With 15 goals in nine games, the 28-year-old is second only to Harry Kane in the German league’s goal scoring charts.
Another big name unable to weave his magic was, Morgan Guilavogui.
The midfield wizard plays for Lens FC in France’s Ligue 1, coming off the bench earlier this season to grab a consolation goal in a 3-1 loss to Paris Saint Germaine (PSG), when a certain Kylian Mbappe bagged a brace for the Parisians!
Next Wednesday, Guilavogui and Lens take on Arsenal in the Champions League; from the Obed Itani Chilume Stadium to the Emirates in a week – the madness of football!
Both would have been proud of the goal that won it for Bots.
Striding forward on the counter, second-half sub, Thabang Sesinyi showed wonderful vision, picking out Kabelo Seakanyeng with a raking 50m cross field pass.
Killing the ball with his first touch, the Serowe sensation dribbled his way into the box, leaving his marker for dead before smashing a low drive into the bottom corner. The explosion of noise and emotion that met the goal sent shivers down the spine!
Yellow-carded for his celebration, an exhausted Seakanyeng was substituted soon after, leaving the pitch to a hero’s reception.
With 11 minutes to go, Guinea, who scored a last gasp winner against Uganda, began to attack with more urgency.
However, they could not find a way past the recalled, Goitseone Phoko in the Zebras goal, the Jwaneng Galaxy gloveman repeatedly punching and catching crosses to take the pressure off his defence.
Indeed, it was the home side who came closest to striking again, Orebonye denied by a fingertip save when through on goal.
It proved the last action of an absorbing contest.
The road to America, Mexico and Canada now stops for seven months, with the Zebras not playing again until June, when they take on Uganda and then Somalia.
Fans will have to wait until March 2025 to see their heroes on home soil in the WC qualifiers again, when Riyad Mahrez and league leader’s Algeria come to town; Tuesday’s sweet memories will have to suffice until then!
HOW THEY SAW IT:
“Today Batswana can be very proud of their Zebras; it is a great performance against a Guinea team with a much higher FIFA ranking.
In the first-half it was very beautiful to see my team play like this, compact at the back and sticking to the game plan.
I hope it’s just the beginning and, after two matches, from what I’ve seen I’m convinced we have a good future.
The plan we had was very demanding, physically.
The players ran a lot, they ran for the team, for the flag against a side very good in possession.
Today we played an extremely tactical, high-level match and I’m very, very proud of them.
“We had a good start to the game and had a clear chance after five minutes, then we had a chance in the 15th but we didn’t score so we left the game open. In the second half we had a clear chance when we hit the crossbar.
We lost the game by ourselves, allowing it to be too open in the middle and that is very bad and very poor from our perspective.
However, the race is still open; we’ve only played twice, there’s still eight games to go. We have to keep our heads up, see what didn’t work and go again.”
