Hostile reception awaits Zebras

The Zebras delegation going to Guinea-Bissau for the second leg of the preliminary stages of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) next week must prepare for anything including a hostile reception. 

It may not be documented for a fact but the behaviour and body language of the Guinea Bissau people told of a team bent on teaching Botswana a lesson back at their base. They have picked up obscure issues and have been accusing the Botswana Football Association (BFA) of sabotage, and what more if they would be looking to reverse their 0-2 loss to the Zebras over the weekend. 

From the day they left their country, they kept their journey to Botswana a secret, leaving the local association. It turns out that they had opted to fly to Johannesburg without involving their hosts, and made arrangements with the South African Football Association (SAFA) to aid them with a bus to Gaborone. Their action backfired as six of their players would then be blocked from riding inland by the South African health authorities on account of not being vaccinated against Yellow Fever. They arrived in Botswana with 14 players, leaving only 3 to sit on the bench.

Strangely, some of their players based overseas would upon arrival at the Tlokweng border hand in their Portuguese passports instead of the ones with which they had entered and exited South Africa at the OR Tambo Airport. With the irked immigration authorities directing them back to go and correct the anomaly, the Guinea-Bissau delegation looked to travel back, but within minutes were back to show their Guinea passports. It was only then that the visas on their passports showed correspondence with those prepared by the BFA and taken to the point of entry by Technical and Education Officer Philimon Makhwengwe. After ascertaining the authenticity of the players’ travel documents, and even verifying the Portuguese passports the same players had, permission was sought with headquarters by the immigration officers at the border post to let the players in. The Immigration and Citizenship Director Mabuse Pule confirms the incident and that he granted the permission after the immigration staff ascertained the validity of the travel documents presented at the border.  But contrary to what they would later claim, Pule denied that the team was denied entry. In fact, the delays from their shenanigans led to the team further arriving late at the border, and inevitably into the host country, yet in a surprising twist, officials from Guinea-Bissau turned around to accuse a clueless BFA secretariat of sabotage. They even threatened to report Botswana to both CAF and FIFA for ill-treatment. Even as the BFA had accommodated the visitors at the highly-rated President’s Hotel, the Guinea-Bissau delegation turned around to say they had their money – in US Dollars and Euros - stolen from their hotel rooms on the day of the match.

The hotel in turn called in the Central Police Station to help, with the BFA president Tebogo Sebego and Technical Director Benny Kgomela also brought in where they spent all night trying to resolve the matter. Surveillance cameras were reviewed by the police but nothing was found to suggest that anyone had stolen their money. Yet the visitors continued to be confrontational, accusing the BFA of sabotage and bad treatment. Even their mishap at the Tlokweng border was blamed on the BFA, with the visitors maintaining that the BFA was from the beginning bent on frustrating them towards losing their match. Such, it is expected, the Guinea-Bissau officials will use against the Zebras when they travel to their country next week. BFA Technical Director Kgomela confirmed the incident that saw him spend the entire Saturday night awake trying to assist the visitors. The Guineans left the country on Sunday morning, still not happy, to go and await the Zebras for the return leg scheduled for next Saturday on August 2 in Guinea- Bissau.