The Montage of Knowledge - With Ausi Tholoana

The Montage of Knowledge
- With Ausi Tholoana, in Butha-Buthe

Question sent to Ausi Tholoana after Likuena’s 0-0 draw with Namibia on Monday: Fine, Lesotho is keeping clean sheets… but are we actually creating any chances? 0-0 draws can only get you so far…

Ausi Tholoana’s response

We are creating chances. Its one of those things; because we don’t play a lot of international matches it takes more steps than it would normally take for most teams to get things right. I.e. if you have a side that’s regularly playing matches, things like taking chances can fall into place in due course. For instance, Lesotho’s last game (the 2-1 win over Botswana) was a full two months ago. That’s a long time ago.

Likuena winger Katleho Moleko (right) in action in Likuena's
0-0 draw with Namibia on Monday

But to answer you, I think you will find that we are building a compact side, a side that is well organised, competent in possession and one that can create occasions in the opponents final third.

Unfortunately scoring is an art. Period. You need constant exposure to that goalscoring situation and at high quality at that. I hope I have made sense. I.e., if you check, Botswana’s main striker Jerome Ramatlhakwane, the man who fired them to the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, is a guy who is plying his trade in the fully professional circles of South Africa’s Premier Soccer League.

Egypt, when they were great, still had a thousand home-based players in the line-up, but their spearhead Mohamed Zidan was based in Europe. The same can be said of Amir Zaki and Mido as well. Sometimes our lack of scoring is also due to the standard of our local league.

@MolapoSC

Lesotho players playing abroad

Litšepe Marabe (right)

Litšepe Marabe and Bushy Moletsane are in great form for their Botswana side Flamengo Santos at the moment. Both scored in Santos’ 2-1 win over Tafic FC last Saturday. It was Marabe’s first goal since joining Santos from Matlama at the start of the season – great news for Likuena of course.

Manchester United get an easy draw… again…

Is it just me or does Manchester United just always get easy ties? It doesn’t matter whether it is the Champions League, FA Cup and now it seems the Carling Cup as well. With all due respect to Crystal Palace they aren’t the same proposition as Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool or Manchester City, especially at Old Trafford. Mouth-watering ties otherwise – Arsenal against Manchester City and Chelsea renewing their evening hostilities with Liverpool.

Carling Cup Draw
Arsenal vs. Manchester City
Chelsea vs. Liverpool
Manchester United vs. Crystal Palace
Cardiff vs. Blackburn

But I guess Fergie deserves it

Sir Alex Ferguson... Legend

The greatest manager ever to live? Possibly. Certainly a certain Mr. Matela Lechesa seems to think so. It’s hard to disagree though… 25 excellent years and still counting.

See: The Legend of Sir Alex – By Matela Lechesa