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GABORONE, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Botswana national football team, the Zebras, on Wednesday reported for camp to kick-start preparations for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier matches against Zimbabwe and Algeria in March.
With football activities yet to resume in the southern African country due to COVID-19, coach Adel Amrouche was forced to start preparations earlier as most of them have not played competitive league matches for almost a year. Amrouche called 30 local-based players to the provisional squad and will be in camp for 10 days until February 20.
According to communication from the Botswana Football Association (BFA), the coach will use the initial camp to assess his players and condition them ahead of the two crucial ties that lie ahead. The squad will be trimmed and foreign-based players will join the second camp scheduled for early March.
The Zebras will host Zimbabwe on March 22 before facing Algeria on March 30. Botswana currently lies third in Group H of the 2021 AFCON qualifiers with four points from four games played and will have to salvage maximum points to keep their dreams of qualifying for their only second AFCON finals alive.
Amrouche, whose contract expires in October this year, had been tasked with qualifying for the AFCON tournament, but found himself in muddy waters following a draw with Zimbabwe and a loss to Algeria in the first two matches. This was followed by another loss to Zambia but a win over Zambia on the return leg in November 2020 rekindled hopes of qualifying as they sit on position three.
Only the top two sides in the group will qualify and Algeria has already taken a spot.
Meanwhile, football lovers in Botswana will have to wait until March for the return of local football action. This follows release of new guidelines for safe return to sport during COVID-19 by authorities this week and the Premier League will have to abide by them before they can resume activities. Amongst these are mandatory testing of players as well as no spectators allowed at matches.
The local league came to an abrupt end in March 2020 following the detection of first case of the coronavirus in Botswana. Enditem