All 160 young football players from the Nhabe region who participated in the U23 National Team regional selections in Maun on Saturday have failed to meet the criteria required for the final selection camp.
The thorough scouting process left the region empty-handed after none of the local trialists managed to satisfy the rigid guidelines set by the technical handlers. According to the Scouting Team, the key elements of the selection criteria included age, technical ability, talent, and the players’ capacity to adapt to different coaching methodologies.
In an interview, Scouting Team Leader and Zebras Head Coach Morena Ramoreboli called for proper football training for young players in the Nhabe region to give them a stronger foundation by building their physical, tactical, and technical capacities. He noted that the blanket failure of the Nhabe players to meet key selection guidelines was likely due to a lack of proper training and not playing football full-time.
“Remember we have also been to other regions and we have to be honest and compare what we get in Maun with what we have already seen,” Ramoreboli said. “Those are some of the aspects that dictate that if you need somebody, it should be someone better than the one you have already seen or someone who has the same quality as the one you have seen.”
Ramoreboli acknowledged that while the young players from the Nhabe region possess a great passion for football, there is an urgent need for them to train regularly and join local football clubs to expose themselves to consistent training. He explained that selecting players who do not meet the criteria would be unfair, making it vital to provide honest feedback on the specific areas they must improve. He added that local players simply need more time to work on these key required attributes.
“We needed to be honest about how we are doing things and it should not sound like we did not want to select kids from Maun,” the coach clarified. “I am just a neutral person and I have been in football for many years. I understand exactly what I have seen and I want us to do things right.”
He stressed that a massive turnout at football trials does not guarantee automatic selection, as rigid benchmarks are set to assess skills, talent, and performance.
“You can have 600 players coming to the trials, but if all of them do not meet the certain standards that have been set, it means they are not eligible, so people should understand that,” Ramoreboli explained. “Thembinkosi Lorch went for a trial at Ajax Cape Town and he was one of the best players that I coached and felt he could do the best, but Lorch did not make it there because there were specific things that they were looking for.”
Following the nationwide player selection exercise, the Scouting Team will submit a report to the Botswana Football Association (BFA) regarding the structural challenges they faced throughout the programme. Ramoreboli said that players successfully selected from other regions will move into the final selection camp, where the technical team will hone their skills, before giving them an opportunity to play in the Premier League. He has also recommended that the BFA distribute football equipment to all regional football associations across the country to improve the administration of local leagues.
According to Ramoreboli, the program’s ultimate intention is to find proper football players who can be developed into top-tier talent, pointing out a current lack of balance in national teams regarding different player profiles.
“If you are in the Southern part, you will get players who are a bit skillful and in the Northern part you will get players who are stronger physically,” he observed. “These are elements that we need to go deeper into and try to find out why we are not getting them. For us to get it right, we need to try out programmes such as this.”
Ramoreboli indicated that while this specific talent search targets players in the U17 and U24 age brackets, school sports structures must take control of developing younger children in the U11 and U12 brackets.
While Nhabe recorded zero selections from its 160 participants, neighboring areas enjoyed better success. Out of 50 players who took part in the trials in the Chobe region, five were selected, while eight players were chosen out of the 45 trialists who participated in the Okavango region.
