Feb 17 (Reuters) – Botswana – surprise qualifiers
for the recent African Nations Cup finals – have turned down a
friendly with former champions Egypt this month because they now
cannot field a team, the BBC reported on Friday.
Botswana coach Stanley Tshosane told his football
association to turn down the invitation to play on Feb. 29
because he was not sure who he could pick anymore.
“Most of the senior players had indicated they were quitting
international football, hence we have no team to take on Egypt,”
the BBC reported him as saying.
“Technically we have no team and we need to regroup and
organise ourselves.”
Botswana were surprise qualifiers for the tournament in
Equatorial Guinea and Gabon but lost all three group games,
including a record equaling 6-1 defeat by Guinea in Franceville.
(Reporting by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Mark
Meadows)
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