Botswana coach Stanley Tshosane feels their underdog tag will serve them well at the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
The Zebras, who surprisingly topped their qualifying pool, are making their debut at CAF's flagship event later this month.
And Tshosane believes his men are under less pressure than the likes of Group D rivals Ghana, who they face first on January 24 before tackling Guinea and Mali.
"We are going to war," he said in the Sowetan. "We have been given the mandate by President Ian Khama to make the country proud and we will do our best.
"Going to Equatorial Guinea and Gabon as underdogs is a blessing in disguise for us.
"We are not under pressure because many people on the continent are not giving us a chance to do well.
"When we started with the qualifiers we were told Botswana would finish at the bottom of the log in our group, which included giants like Tunisia and Togo.
"It is now history that we finished on top of the group. In fact, we were the first team to qualify for the tournament."