Lesotho's senior soccer squad popularly, Likuena (The crocodiles) preparations for the do or die Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers against group L rivals Cape Verde (The Blue Sharks) have been derailed. This final group L crucial match will be played away in Cape Verde Island on the weekend of March 22 this year. Team Manager Rantsubise Matete said the initial plan was play international friendly against eSwatini's Isihlangu Semnikati but the problem was that the dates clashed with teams’ dates in the domestic league cup game of Lesotho National Insurance Group (LNIP) Top 8 Cup. He said it seemed that Likuena would have to leave for Cape Verde without having played any international warm up match if things stay the same.

 He said: “However, the second option is for Likuena to play training matches against some of the South Africa premier league teams en route to Cape Verde. We are planning to send the team for a week long training camp in Pretoria at the High Performance Training Centre. We are only waiting for the quotations before finalising the logistics and if things go to the plan, Likuena players will leave on March 14.” Matete said Jomo Cosmos could be one of the teams Likuena might play against after discussions with the club owner Jomo Sono during his private business visit at the Lesotho Football Association (LeFA) on Monday this week.

 “All Likuena players, including the foreign based who ply their soccer trade in South Africa, the likes of Ts'oarelo Bereng, Tumelo Khutlang and Luciano Matsoso, have recovered from their knocks sustained at Black Leopards,” he revealed. According to Matete, the arrangement is for all players to be released early including the US based Lesia Thetsane. He said: “We have also reached an agreement with the Lesotho Premier League Management Committee to release local based players early so the squad can be able to camp ahead of the Cape Verde much awaited clash.” After failing to beat Cape Verde but played a 1-1 draw at Setsoto Stadium last year, Likuena are hoping to pull something extra ordinary by beating the Blue Sharks away and pray that Uganda's Cranes, which has already qualified for the AFCON finals to be hosted in Egypt, also beat Tanzania's Taifa Stars in a corresponding fixture in order to qualify for the continental soccer finals.