Jerome Ramatlhakwana - It is do or die against Guinea

 

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Botswana marksman Jerome Ramatlhakwana says their second game in the Orange African Nations Cup against Guinea sets up an immense battle for two sides who want to avoid an early exit from the tournament. Ramatlhakwana top scored for the Zebras on their way to Gabon- Equatorial Guinea finals and he told Cafonline.com that Botswana cannot wait for their first goal at the finals and he doesn’t mind who scores it as long as they can pick up three points come Saturday against Guinea.

 

Cafonline.com How will you approach the Guinea game on Saturday?

 

Ramatlhakwana: It is a do or die game and we both find ourselves in this situation where the loser goes back home. This game is like a final and l consider this game a more difficult encounter than the first match against Ghana.

 

Cafonline.com: Why do you say that?

 

Ramatlhakwana: Well l saw Guinea play against Mali and they are a very physical side and they are compact and aggressive. They are an unknown side to us and have some tricky players like Ismael Bangoura and veteran Pascal Feindouno and we always thought they would be a difficult side to play against. Ghana allowed us to play maybe that was so because once they scored they put some measures to protect their lead. I know it will be a tough game.

 

 

Cafonline.com: The team looks up to you to get goals, how disappointed were you not to score against Ghana?

 

Ramatlhakwana: Yaah it’s my role as striker to try and get goals for the team and l will keep doing my best. At finals such as here at AFCON the defenders and teams do their homework and study the players so it becomes difficult to score. I was close against Ghana but John Mensah made a timely tackle and took a risk and sacrifice for his team and hey it paid off for Ghana, just like Suarez against the very same Ghana in the World Cup but that’s football you know. I did think that was the moment but l still had a lot of work to do before l could score, so l don’t know what would have happened.

 

 

Cafonline.com: It was Mensah first and next it is Bobo Balde quite some defenders to battle with isn’t it?

 

Ramatlhakwana: Eeeish you can say that again, Bobo Balde is next indeed and yes it will be a challenge and l just have to play my game. I like to use the space behind the defence and l will do the same against Guinea but should plan A not give the result needed there is plan B. I enjoyed playing against the big name defenders that play in Europe and l think l did well against Ghana and l will be ready for Balde and company, in fact our entire team respects these guys but were are not here to make up the numbers so we will fight to the end to stay in the tournament.

 

Cafonline.com: Your coach Stanley Tshosane said the performance was good last game, how are you going to turn that into results in the next game?

 

Ramatlhakwana: That’s true and the guys in the team feel that we now need to add results to the performance. We were disappointed to lose to Ghana in the manner we did and even back home the fans thought we could have got something from that game, so there is some pressure on us to get some positive result against Guinea. There is some nervousness amongst us as we also want to turn good performance into results in the next game but overall the spirits are high in camp and come Saturday we will be ready for another battle.