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| Lesotho ready to celebrate... |
Lesotho has been drawn in Group B of the 2016
COSAFA Castle Cup slated for June 11 to 25 in Namibia. The draw was conducted
yesterday in Johannesburg, South Africa. Likuena will be up against Malawi,
Angola and Mauritius and only the group winner will advance to the
quarterfinals.
If Likuena progress from the group they
will face South Africa in the quarters.
In Group A, four-time champions Zimbabwe
will face Swaziland, Seychelles and Madagascar.
The first round pool stage will be
staged in the first week of the tournament. The championship will then move to a
knockout phase with the quarterfinal losers dropping to the Plate competition which
was first introduced in 2013. Malawi is the defending champions of the Plate
competition.
Holders and hosts Namibia begin the
defence of their title with a quarterfinal tie against Botswana while Zambia
and South Africa will play the winners of first round Group A and B
respectively.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will
make its COSAFA Castle Cup debut as a guest nation. DRC is the highest ranked
team at the tournament and is one of the top six sides that were given a bye
into the quarterfinals.
They will face Mozambique in the last
eight.
“We look forward to welcoming the 13
other competing nations and, of course, to defending the trophy we won in South
Africa 12 months ago,” Barry Rukoro, secretary general of the Namibia Football
Association, said.
Likuena caretaker coach Moses Maliehe
has already selected a 24-man squad in preparation for the tournament.
Lesotho’s best performances at the
COSAFA Cup came in 2013 when it reached the semi-finals and in 2000 when
Likuena lost to Zimbabwe in the final.
2016
COSAFA Cup Draw
Pool
Phase
Group A
Zimbabwe
Swaziland
Seychelles
Madagascar
Group B
Malawi
Angola
Lesotho
Mauritius
Quarterfinal
Draw
South Africa v Winner Group B
Botswana v Namibia
Zambia v Winner Group A
DR Congo v Mozambique
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