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“To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you're not, pretend you are.” – Muhammad Ali

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Lesotho to play Namibia and DRC


Lesotho will return to international football next month
Lesotho will play Namibia and the DRC in preparation for the all-important 2014 Fifa World Cup preliminary qualifier against Burundi next month. Likuena will play Burundi in a two-legged affair on November 11 and November 15 for the right to make it through to the group stage of qualifying where Ghana, Zambia and Sudan wait.

The match against Burundi will be Lesotho’s first competitive international since 2008.

The first leg will be played at the Setsoto Stadium on Friday November 11 before the return match in Bujumbura four days later.

In preparation Likuena will play Namibia in Windhoek on October 31 and the DR Congo on November 5 in Pretoria.

Lesotho’s game against DRC will be the first against what can be considered a top tier side since a World Cup qualifier against Ghana in 2008.

Likuena coach Leslie Notši is expected to name his squad for the matches next week. Lesotho has played the DRC on six previous occasions. The sides played to 1-1 draw in Maseru in 1993 with the DRC as Zaire. However Lesotho lost 7-0 and 3-0 in the next two games which were played in Kinshasa.

Meanwhile Likuena has faced Namibia on eight occasions with the last coming in 2008.

There is confidence in the camp.

Lesotho got their new era under Notši off with an impressive 2-1 win over Botswana in Gaborone last month.

Likuena’s goals came courtesy of Thulo Ranchobe and Botswana based striker Lehlomela Ramabele who was making his debut for the national side. Both goals were struck in the first half with Botswana pulling one back in the second stanza. Notši took over as coach in July and the game was Lesotho’s first since a 1-0 win over Mauritius in the Cosafa Senior Challenge in September 2009.

Meanwhile, Lesotho dropped two places to 162nd in the latest Fifa rankings released today.

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