Botswana U-20 national team coach Boyo Oscar Radipotsane has slammed COSAFA’s Football Video Support (FVS) at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) U-20 qualifiers, saying the technology ruined his team’s match against Zambia on Wednesday.
Zambia’s Young Chipolopolo defeated Botswana 3-1 to wrap up their group-stage campaign at the 2026 COSAFA U-20 AFCON qualifying tournament with a perfect nine points.
Daniel Silubonde opened the scoring in the ninth minute from the penalty spot before Kent Malundu equalised for Botswana shortly after the restart.
Silubonde restored Zambia’s lead in the 63rd minute after Zambia was awarded a second penalty. His initial effort was saved, but the striker converted the rebound to put Zambia back in front.
John Foloko then completed the scoring in stoppage time to seal another victory for Perry Mutapa’s side.
We were better than Zambia – Radipotsane
Speaking after the match, Radipotsane was fuming and blamed the video support system for his team’s defeat.
“There are no referees. It’s only VAR who decides the result. So, go back to the referees, not VAR. Everything is VAR. But we play games for 120 because of VAR,” Radipotsane said.
“They played extremely well. That’s why we saw everything when it was going against us; it’s a penalty. And everything now is VAR.”
Radipotsane further claimed that Botswana were the better side and suggested that VAR had influenced the outcome of the match.
“We’re much better than Zambia,” he said, adding that, “We’ll go back and train the boys because we didn’t have enough time for training.”
Botswana had been hoping to qualify for the AFCON U-20 tournament, but their journey was cut short after they failed to reach the semifinals of the COSAFA competition.
Zambia will face South Africa in the semifinals, while hosts Mozambique will take on Namibia. The two finalists will secure qualification to the AFCON U-20 tournament, which will also serve as the qualifier for the 2027 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
