Peter Kanjere
December 31, 2025Ramoreboli admits Botswana couldn’t match AFCON opposition
Ramoreboli admits Botswana couldn’t match AFCON opposition
Botswana’s national team coach Morena Ramoreboli has admitted that his side could not match the quality of opposition at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals in Morocco.
The South African made the admission after his Zebras bowed out of the tournament following three straight defeats–3-0, 1-0 and 2-0 to Senegal, Benin and the Democratic Republic of the Congo respectively.
After succumbing to Gaël Kakuta’s inspired DRC in the Group D match, the former Jwaneng Galaxy mentor told a news conference that Botswana does not have the quality
and experience to compete with such AFCON opposition.
“When we were preparing, we knew that we had to coach more in making sure that we try our best to meet the requirement and standard that we were going to face,” Ramoreboli said.
“We needed to be honest with ourselves that we were playing against teams that have a lot of players that are exposed to pressure week-in and week-out. For you to match their quality, you needed to try and bring a couple of alot of things and bring a lot of scenarios that can help you to try and defend…obviously, we couldn’t match their quality.”
Ramoreboli on his defensive approach
The former Bafana Bafana’s COSAFA Cup coach defended his defensive approach throughout the tournament, saying it could have been suicidal deploying an attacking formation.
“Some people could easily think that we could easily play an open game,” he said. “But let us be honest, we were playing against teams that are very aggressive.
“Everytime we won the ball, they had three players who were giving them outlets for them to attack, so you had to say ‘do they leave three, how many are they leaving?’…if you leave three versus three, they can give you problems.
