Q&A with Diphetogo 'Dipsy' Selolwane

A move to triple Absa Premiership champions SuperSport United was motivated by desire to win silverware but as it turned out, Dipsy had made a move when the going was getting tough for the defending champions.

While things were a bit rough at club level, the opposite was true at national team level as Selolwane became part of the history-making Zebras team in their maiden Africa Cup of Nations qualification. SuperSport.com spent some time with the player to reflect on his club and national team fortunes.

The former Ajax Cape Town player first played for Gaborone United in Botswana's Premier League and has featured in the Major League Soccer in the USA beore returning to South where he played for Santos, Jomo Cosmos and Ajax Cape Town in early 2008. He moved to champions SuperSport United in April last year.

You had a community outreach project this morning…

The function went well. The club has partnered with a neighbourhood in Pretoria who have just been given land by the government and they will be building houses and some training facilities there. It was an opportunity for us to take our brand there and help with the launch of a supporters’ branch.

What is your assessment of the team’s performance in the 2-0 defeat against Kaizer Chiefs?

I must say the guys did their best. We lost the match and there’s nothing we can do now. All we can do now is to focus on the next match on Saturday. We had our chances and a few moments. We did dominate later in the game in the second half. It was the same story we have been through the whole season as things did not work out.

As to what the problem is… if I knew we wouldn’t be in this position. It’s difficult to say – you can point fingers at tactics… it’s a combination of things. It’s just not happening for us.

With four matches to go, what’s the worst that can happen?

In the position we find ourselves in, there is no option but to always go out for three points. The next game is like a cup final for us because if we do not win we are dragged into the relegation zone. And that’s the place we do not want to be in. No player at SuperSport would wake and want to lose. It’s just unbelievable, it does not make sense.

How has this affected the morale in the dressing room?

Not so much because the guys are always positive. You look at matches we have lost, you will see that we were in the game and only lost because of the lapse of concentration in key moments. We work very hard at training and each and every day we do all the physical work.

Looking at the season’s performance, is that a true reflection of the quality in the squad?

Individually we have a lot of quality compared to other teams. It’s just that things are not happening for us.

Moving from Ajax to United, the plan would have been to win silverware…

I knew that question was coming. Of course when I came here the plan was to win something. But at this stage it seems like the people that I have just left might win something. Personally I think Ajax are favourites to win the league. They have done really well and all the team has responded well to the coach.

This is football. I might have come here at the wrong time but I do not regret my decision. Coming here, I wanted to contribute to the team and learn at the same time. There’s great potential here and it’s only a matter of time before people realise that.

There is uncertainty surrounding Gavin Hunt’s future at the club. How are players reacting to that?

I don’t think it has affected the team in any way. Ever since the coach has done well, there have been reports that Sundowns, Chiefs and the national team were interested in him. But Gavin went out and won the league for the third time.

Those are challenges that you have to deal with and the reality is that anyone who performs well in their field are bound to attract attention. That’s the reality. Who knows maybe tomorrow some of our best players might leave, and some have left in the past, life must go on. That is not something that should bother us -- all we have to do is try and put the team in the best position.

Bongani left for Spurs and he deserved that break as a Bafana player. All I am saying is that we have to try and deal with the situation in the best possible way.

If you look at your national team performance, there’s almost a direct contrast with what is happening at club level… That topic is very close to my heart. Finally, after 11, 12 maybe 13 years of trying I am finally going to the Nations Cup. I have so many months ahead to prepare for that and I pray every day that I stay healthy so that I can actually play in my first Nations Cup.

The way we qualified was like out of nothing as nobody gave us a chance as usual. But this time around, by the third game, I had a feeling that we would make it. When we beat Tunisia… that dream became a real possibility.

The game in Chad… a draw was good enough as it would still keep us in but overall I had a feeling we would win.

What do you attribute that successful qualification to?

Well the momentum built up with each game as we played better and had better possession. When we got the chances, we scored. When we played at home against Chad, we beat them despite the fact that they were good. Then we played Togo and beat them. We then went to Malawi, we scored first in the first half and they bombarded us and equalised but we still stayed top of the group.

After that, our biggest challenge was Tunisia. When we beat them, it couldn’t be clearer -- we were heading to the Nations Cup.

What has been the driving force behind the success of the Zebras?

To be quite honest, I think it’s the number of players we have in the professional ranks. In the past it used to be just me and maybe one or two guys who were going to college. I remember most of the time I would be scoring and if I didn’t score, we would probably lose the match.

I remember being a top scorer with six goals in 12 matches in one campaign and we were bottom of the group. This time around, I don’t have any goals and we are top of the group. It’s amazing that finally we have guys, and not just one, who are doing the business.

You have qualified now, what are your expectations in the tournament?

All we have to do is prepare well and play with the same mentality, hunger and desire we had during the qualification. We have worked so hard to be there and we cannot simply be happy with just being there. We will play and do our best to represent Botswana – who knows maybe it might happen as it did during the qualifiers that we secure a win and a draw and we progress to the second round. From then on it will be anybody’s game.

Do you think the national team’s recent performance will help to improve the game in Botswana by attracting sponsors?

As you know, football in our country has always been a pastime but our qualification should help to change things a bit. This is a sign to everyone that Botswana does have talent and we should invest in the arts and sport. We will also have to build better facilities and have better structures and push our league towards a direction where we can compete against the rest of the world.

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