Botswana extend lead in Afcon
Botswana’s Zebras maintained their unbeaten run in their Group K of the 2012 African Nations Cup qualifiers when they defeated Tunisia 1-0 in Gaborone on Wednesday afternoon to send the country into a party mood.
The only goal of the match was scored by Jerome “Jay-Jay” Ramatlhakwana, the man who also scored the solitary goal in the first round victory over the Tunisians in Tunis early in June this year.
The Tunisians are still reeling from a debilitating defeat of their crack side Esperance who went down 6-1 on aggregate to TP Mazembe in the two-legged African Champions League and despite refusing to divulge their whereabouts in Gaborone and kept their programme under wraps, it did not help them against the inspired Zebras who were in control throughout.
The victory all but secured the southern African country rich in mineral resources to the finals of the biennial tournament to be staged in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea in 2012 following their haul of 13 points in five matches.
They now lead second position Tunisia by six points and no matter what happens in their next three matches against Chad, Malawi and Togo, Botswana will definitely be one of the 16 teams that will take part in the tournament in two years.
According to Botswana Premier League Consultant Bennett Mamelodi, Mogogi Gabonamong, the Santos midfield anchor, played the game of his life on his return to the national team set-up following an absence of more than six months.