GABORONE, June 11 -- Botswana suffered a heartbreaking 1-0 defeat to visiting Mauritania on Saturday afternoon in the opening 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualification matches at the Francistown Sport Complex, some 430km northeast of the capital, Gaborone.

Botswana, known as The Zebras, are in Group I with Mauritania, Angola and Burkina Faso.

The home side failed to convert an avalanche of goal scoring opportunities - some of them clear-cut - into the much-needed goals.

Even with a better ball possession, Botswana's frontline of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) based Onkabetse Makgantai, Omaatla Kebatho and Thero Setsile seemed to have forgotten its scoring boots.

The two sides were goalless in the first half. With only twelve minutes before the final whistle, substitute Soudani Mohamed Abdullahi slotted a grounder past the Botswana goalie Mampule Masule, sending the Mauritanian bench into frenzy.

"My boys deserves some kudos. They are young but played like experienced players. They were strict to the instructions," said Mauritania's coach Martins Corentin.

Peter James Butler, the Botswana head coach blamed the loss on lack of enough preparations. Enditem

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