MASERU - The senior men’s soccer team Likuena has a very tall mountain to climb this weekend when they lock horns with the Warriors of Zimbabwe in the CHAN qualifiers. The two nations had met in mid-September in Harare, and Lesotho was demolished away by three goals to one and now the local boys must win the game by two goals or more without conceding.
sports
Oct. 17, 2019
REITUMETSE MABALEHA
2 min read
Do or die for Likuena team
The current mentor is yet to taste victory after taking over. The team will be carrying the weight of very hopeful Basotho on their shoulders when they face Zimbabwe in their own backyard.
With a number of goals needed in order to progress to the tournament finals, the striking force needs to be at its best. It is not going to be an easy task though, because they have been struggling to score many goals. Likuena have normally scored one goal or two. In their first qualifier against South Africa, they surprisingly scored total six goals; three home and away.
Coming to this match, not only goal-scoring has to be at its best, the defence has to be at its maximum best too. Should they concede a goal, they would be left with an even steeper mountain to climb. It is already a tough one to win this game by two goals without conceding. ”We need to keep encouraging them to be brave in the final third. The mentality coming to this game is improving in our team,” the head coach Thabo Senong said.
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All this so important game will be curtain-raiser match between A-Division’s under twenty. The best players under the age of twenty that ply their trade in Northern and Southern streams will lock horns before the big match. This is an effort that LeFA is undertaking in order for Bob Mafoso to have a wider pool to select a team that will take part in December COSAFA U/20.
“There is COSAFA coming at the end of the year, and Ntate Bob will be monitoring this game closely because that is where some of the selections will be made,” said Mohaila Letseka, the Youth Development officer of Lesotho Football Association.
But the bigger picture is that of Likuena. There has also been an outcry of the public that ticket pricing is expensive, given that CHAN is not a major tournament, as compared to AFCON.
The tickets are priced at M50, and there have been trolls at social media platforms people demanding it to at least be M30. Some have even threatened to boycott the game. In a friendly against Malawi the previous weekend, the stands were close to empty. The question most asked was, Will it be the case at weekend, when the boys need that twelfth player more than ever?
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