THE newly appointed Mehalalitoe coach Lehloenya Nkhasi has admitted that his charges will have a mountain to climb when they get their campaign underway at the COSAFA Women’s Championship after they were drawn against Malawi and Zambia in Group B on Thursday.

Nkhasi recently replaced Lire Phiri as Mehalalitoe mentor and his coaching credentials will be tested when Lesotho get their campaign underway against Zambia in the regional tourney on November 4.

They will play Malawi three days later and with the winner of the group advancing to the semifinals and the best runner-up from the three groups.

“I know that Zambia were finalists in last year’s tournament losing 1-0 to South Africa and that tells they are a strong side.

“I have been researching about these two teams, who will be our opponents in the group so that we know everything that will help us prepare for the games against them.

“We are making good progress in our preparations and I’m happy on how our players have responded. We have played practice matches to help with the fitness after the long layoff due to the COVID-19 pandemic and still have about 10 more games to fine tune our preparations,” Nkhasi said.