Lesotho has dropped to its lowest ever Fifa world ranking since the rankings were introduced in 1993.
The latest Fifa rankings were released earlier today and they have ensured Likuena will have a difficult draw when the 2014 Fifa World Cup preliminary qualifiers draw is made on Saturday in the host country Brazil.
Lesotho has slipped down six places to 184 in the world and as a result will be in the second pot of teams in the draw.
The draw will consist of Africa’s 24 lowest ranked nations and will decide who plays who in the preliminary knockout matches which will be played in the period from November 11 to 15 on a home and away basis.
The winners of the matches will go through to the group stage of World Cup qualifying along with the remaining 28 participating Caf member associations.
The qualifiers proper will consist of 10 groups of four countries each and will take place between June 2012 and September 2013.
The winners of each group will advance to a final round of five two-legged knock out ties, which will be held in October and November 2013 with the last five standing nations advancing to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The countries in the top 12, and in the first pot in Saturday’s draw, according to the latest Fifa rankings are Mozambique, DRC, Togo, Liberia, Tanzania, Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Namibia, Burundi and Madagascar. These teams will play the home leg second, and will face one of the 12 lowest ranked teams – Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Swaziland, Comoros, Lesotho, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Mauritius, Seychelles and Sao Tome.
Only Mauritania has declined to take part in the qualifiers.
Lesotho hasn’t played a full international match since 2009 and the national team, Likuena, was disbanded last February with the Lesotho Football Association focusing instead on Lesotho’s youth teams.
After leading Lesotho’s under-20 side to the Caf African Youth Championship in April Leslie Notši was hired as coach of Likuena last month.
And speaking to BBC Sport yesterday Notši said he was confident that a promising crop of young players were capable of causing a few shocks when the Brazil 2014 campaign gets underway.
“I think we have the players who can surprise a few bigger teams,” Notši told BBC Sport. “We are always much more comfortable being the underdogs and we always try to encourage the boys that they are good enough to compete.”
Likuena’s possible opponents
Mozambique
DRC
Togo
Liberia
Tanzania
Congo
Kenya
Rwanda
Ethiopia
Namibia
Burundi
Madagascar
The latest Fifa rankings were released earlier today and they have ensured Likuena will have a difficult draw when the 2014 Fifa World Cup preliminary qualifiers draw is made on Saturday in the host country Brazil.
Lesotho has slipped down six places to 184 in the world and as a result will be in the second pot of teams in the draw.
 |
| Closing in... Thabo Masualle, 12, and Bushy Moletsane at the Cosafa Senior Challenge in 2009 (vs Zimbabwe) |
The draw will consist of Africa’s 24 lowest ranked nations and will decide who plays who in the preliminary knockout matches which will be played in the period from November 11 to 15 on a home and away basis.
The winners of the matches will go through to the group stage of World Cup qualifying along with the remaining 28 participating Caf member associations.
The qualifiers proper will consist of 10 groups of four countries each and will take place between June 2012 and September 2013.
The winners of each group will advance to a final round of five two-legged knock out ties, which will be held in October and November 2013 with the last five standing nations advancing to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
The countries in the top 12, and in the first pot in Saturday’s draw, according to the latest Fifa rankings are Mozambique, DRC, Togo, Liberia, Tanzania, Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Namibia, Burundi and Madagascar. These teams will play the home leg second, and will face one of the 12 lowest ranked teams – Guinea Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Swaziland, Comoros, Lesotho, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti, Mauritius, Seychelles and Sao Tome.
Only Mauritania has declined to take part in the qualifiers.
Lesotho hasn’t played a full international match since 2009 and the national team, Likuena, was disbanded last February with the Lesotho Football Association focusing instead on Lesotho’s youth teams.
 |
| Likuena coach Leslie Notši |
And speaking to BBC Sport yesterday Notši said he was confident that a promising crop of young players were capable of causing a few shocks when the Brazil 2014 campaign gets underway.
“I think we have the players who can surprise a few bigger teams,” Notši told BBC Sport. “We are always much more comfortable being the underdogs and we always try to encourage the boys that they are good enough to compete.”
Likuena’s possible opponents
Mozambique
DRC
Togo
Liberia
Tanzania
Congo
Kenya
Rwanda
Ethiopia
Namibia
Burundi
Madagascar
No comments:
Post a Comment