GABORONE, June 9 (Xinhua) -- Botswana coach Peter Butler hopes to use home ground advantage to get maximum points in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers group opener on Saturday.
The Zebras, as the team is known, takes on Mauritania in their Group I opener in the northern city of Francistown, about 380km north of the capital Gaborone. A defiant Butler told the media on Friday that he believes his team has the firepower to get maximum points against the visitors when they meet on Saturday afternoon.
"I was impressed by the boys over the last couple of days, they look sharp and I believe with the home support backing them, we can get maximum points," he said.
The team returned home on Wednesday from Morocco where they have been camping. They played a friendly match with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which despite losing, the coach said he picked a lot of positives from the match. He said new most of the players are getting his philosophy right, which is very important for the team going forward.
The team left some members behind for Morocco due to visas issues, something Butler said did not dampen the morale of the team. He said Mauritania for now remained a closed book for his charges, but with a solid game plan, they are going all out for a win.
"No opponent is weak, everyone wants to win hence it's important that we stick to our game plan," Butler said.
For his part, team captain Ofentse Nato said everyone is geared up for the match and they want to start the campaign with a win. He said it is important to start with a win at home to ease the pressure going into the second matches of the qualifiers.
The Zebras will be without first choice goalkeeper Kabelo Dambe who is nursing an injury. South African based midfielder Mpho Kgaswane is also out of the match as his club is involved in relegation playoffs.
Botswana will be buoyed by the fact that the team has never lost a match at the Francistown Stadium since they made it their home ground in 2015. Botswana, having only qualified for the continental showpiece once in 2012, is alongside Burkina Faso, Angola and Mauritania in Group I.
