With no chance of booking a place in the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations, Botswana welcome Libya to the Francistown Stadium in a dead-rubber clash on Saturday.

On the other hand, the away side approach this weekend's meeting with their AFCON hopes currently hanging by a thread heading into the penultimate round of qualifying matches.

Match preview

Botswana came away empty-handed from their clash against the Elephants of Equatorial Guinea as the teams played out a 3-2 thriller on March 28.

Mogomotsi Mpote's men went behind to Emilio Nsue's opener but managed to level matters through Mbatshi Elias, before Lebogang Ditsele's own goal and an Iban Salvador strike left them with a mountain to climb, rendering Kabelo Seakanyeng's late effort inconsequential.

As a result, the Zebras remain rooted to the bottom of their qualifying group, a whopping nine and eight points behind Tunisia and Equatorial Guinea in first and second place respectively.

Lying in store next is the challenge of an opposing outfit who are yet to taste defeat or concede a goal in the previous two encounters between the sides.

In what is set to be their final outing before next month's COSAFA Cup, Saturday's hosts will be looking to get themselves back on track as they look to end a nine-game winless run across all competitions.

Libya had little to show for a decent display against the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia in a 1-0 loss at Martyrs of February Stadium on March 28.

Haythem Jouini's 16th-minute strike proved to be the difference as Hamdi Bataw's men failed to find the back of the net once again in Benghazi.

That defeat leaves the Mediterranean Knights third in Group J, but more importantly, they now trail Equatorial Guinea by six points with two matches left.

Team News

Kabelo Seakanyeng's consolation strike last time out was his seventh for Botswana, meaning that only seven people in the country's history have netted on more occasions.

The highly-experienced Mosha Gaolaolwe was surprisingly left out of the hosts' 25-man for this one, denying him the opportunity to add to his 70 caps - the most of any active player.

Libya's Ali Al-Musrati could be handed a limited role here having only just returned from an injury layoff towards the back end of last month.

Despite failing to find the back of the net in his opening 15 international outings, Muad Eisa is expected to retain his place in the XI at the expense of Ismael Tajouri-Shradi.

Botswana possible starting lineup:
Malapela; Ditsele, Ditlhokwe, Johnson, Kopelang; Cooper, Kgaswane, Mohutsiwa; Seakanyeng, Kebatho, Sesinyi

Libya possible starting lineup:
Allafi; Sherif, Al Musrati, Farhat, El-Munir; Al Musrati, Shafshuf; Ali, Ellafi, Elhouni; Eisa

We say: Botswana 1-1 Libya

Botswana can afford to take their foot off the gas a bit here, while Libya have little margin for error as they look to make up a near-unassailable margin. That said, we expect a keenly-contested affair with honours even in the end.


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