Warriors team manager Wellington Mpandare has refuted claims that the squad travelled by road from Gaborone to Francistown, a distance of over 400km.
The Warriors technical team was accused from some quarters of failing to make hustle-free travel arrangements for the team ahead of a blockbuster AFCON qualifier aginst Botswana this evening.
The squad flew via Johannesburg before connecting to Francistown but there were some delays at the Francistown International Airport.
The Warriors had to undergo rapid tests for COVID-19 to which they came out with a clean bill but the team only arrived at their hotel at exactly 10:54 PM. Said Mpandare:
In terms of CAF rules, if the distance between the airport and the venue of the match is superior to 200 kilometres, the host association shall provide the visitors with airplane transport to the venue of the match.
So even if we had connected to Gaborone from Johannesburg, there was no way we could have travelled by road for over 400 kilometres as that would be a breach of the CAF regulations.
In any case, the trip was organised back in February. It was the best available option given the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.