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| Lehlomela Ramabele (left) and Jeremia Kamele |
Hyperbole is dangerous, but it wouldn’t be too much to say this is Lesotho’s biggest game in quite some time. However, knowing Lesotho and knowing football we could come back from the Setsoto Stadium in a couple of hours with our hearts sunk.
That’s just the nature of the game and of life itself.
Lesotho lest we forget hasn’t played a competitive international football match since October 2008, and that occasion didn’t go too well either, a 3-0 loss to Ghana.
But it is all set for a fantastic match against Burundi tonight. It will be a night match firstly, so the atmosphere will be special. Night games are rare occasions in Lesotho; this will be the first since the Setsoto Stadium was reopened last year.
The key for Likuena tonight is to control the tempo of the game. Although one can say you have to press to score goals and make use of home advantage, Lesotho needs the confidence of being in control. The crowd needs the confidence. We need to keep the ball. We need to dictate, be solid and be patient. The game is 90 minutes long.
It’s a Southern African thing perhaps; we need confidence to be at our best. Once confidence is coursing through the veins then anybody is there for the taking.
The midfield battle will be key tonight and much will depend on Ralekoti Mokhahlane, the man who’s assumed the mantle of the quarterback and dictator of the Likuena team. His passing range is normally outstanding and he will have to be at his best tonight, especially considering the likely frenetic pace in the opening stages.
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| Bokang Mothoana |
Where Bokang Mothoana is deployed is another fascinating question. Lesotho’s finest player and comfortable almost anywhere on the pitch, Lefty was used at leftback in the friendlies against Swaziland and that’s where he plays for his Tunisian club side US Monastir. A lot always seems depend on his performance but that conversely can mean the team is left susceptible in the leftback channel (if he plays there) because he remians a focal point of much of the play, even from fullback.
Upfront is another key area. Who will lead the line? According to noises from the camp that job could be given to Lehlomela Ramabele and Thulo Ranchobe.
If so, they will have to step up to the plate in a major way. One of Lesotho’s recent weaknesses (even in Leslie Notši’s Under-20 side) has been a lack of a real link between the midfield and the attack. If it is Ramabele and Ranchobe upfront then Ranchobe will have to be tasked with dropping deep. He will not only have to provide a clever link but also disrupt Burundi’s play through the central channels.
Burundi will bring force, that’s for sure, and that’s something Southern African sides are always caught off guard with. The sheer physicality of West African sides (for example) can at times be a decisive factor in a game. The key for Lesotho is not to be drawn into a physical game.
We also have to defend well from set-pieces; an area Burundi will be dangerous from thanks to their height.
But when all is said and done the game is there for the taking. It always is. It is down to the side that is best prepared, most up for the occasion, but also, the most sensible.
In two hours we want to sleep with happy hearts, so before I go any further I will just say: ha li ba je!
All the best to Likuena – Lesotho’s national team.
