Likuena off to Malawi

MASERU – The national team, Likuena, will leave today for Malawi where they will play a friendly international match against The Flames on Saturday.

The game is part of Likuena’s preparations for next month’s 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers against Zambia.

The Lesotho squad travelling to Malawi is made up of entirely locally-based players because Likuena’s foreign-based players such as Motebang Sera and Katleho Makateng will only join the team a week before the qualifiers against Zambia slated for March 23 and 26.

Speaking on Tuesday at Bambatha Tšita Sports Arena, Likuena head coach Veselin Jelusic said he would have liked to play more friendly matches but, as things stand, the game against Malawi will be his side’s only preparation before the ties against Zambia.

A big difficulty is the ban on Setsoto Stadium as an international venue by Africa’s governing body, CAF, which means Likuena have to travel outside the country to play matches.

Jelusic said possible opponents do not want to come to Lesotho because any game at Setsoto would not be recognised by FIFA.

“Of course, we would like to have as many matches as possible but it is not easy because of obligations of our players in the (Vodacom) Premier League and some financial aspects. As you know, we cannot play our matches at home, teams are not accepting to come here to play the matches because it cannot be official FIFA matches,” Jelusic said.

Nevertheless, the Serbian mentor said facing Malawi will give Likuena the challenge they want because the game will give them an opportunity to identify mistakes before facing Zambia.

“We believe that Malawi can give us enough good challenges and even check in which level of preparation we are at the moment. It will allow us to correct some weaknesses that we see after this game,” Jelusic said.

“The second goal of playing friendly matches is to give a chance to the younger players to gain international experience so that in the future they are ready for matches they will play,” he added.

Lesotho most recently faced Malawi in July last year at the COSAFA Cup in South Africa, a game which Likuena won 2-1, thanks to goals from Tumelo Makha and Jane Thabantšo.

Likuena will be hoping for another positive performance as they gear up for a crucial pair of games against Zambia.

The national side will also be hoping to have Royal AM striker Sera available for the qualifiers.

Before suffering an injury two weeks ago, Sera was enjoying a great time in the South African top-flight with four goals and one assist in ten appearances this season.

However, Sera missed Royal AM’s game against SuperSport United last Saturday and Jelusic is sweating over the striker’s fitness for the games against Zambia. Also key to Likuena’s chances is Richards Bay striker Makateng.

“(Sera) is in the process of recovery and we hope he will come back and, hopefully, by the time we are supposed to play our games against Zambia we expect that he will be physically ready,” Jelusic said.

“Makateng is always ready to play, of course, we would like our players to have more time in their teams and chances to play.”

Jelusic said Likuena are also talking with other foreign-based players including Lesia Thetsane who is based in the United States.

He said it is important to have a strong squad given the strength of Likuena’s opponents.

Lesotho is in Group H of the 2023 AFCON qualifiers alongside the Comoros and a pair of African giants in Zambia and Ivory Coast who boast some of the continent’s best players.

“All these teams that play in our group have a lot of professional players, many of them play in good European clubs and the (English) Premier Leagues,” Jelusic said.

“The task for us is not easy but what is important is that we will play for the dignity of the country, to fight and to achieve the best results possible.”

Tlalane Phahla