Teboho Molapo
MASERU — Lesotho’s national soccer team will play Swaziland in two international friendly matches next week.
This was confirmed by Likuena team manager Khiba Mohoanyane on Wednesday, who added that negotiations were also going on with Mozambique for a possible match.
“We will play Swaziland in two games next week. We aim to organise a few more games,” Mohoanyane told the Sunday Express.
The games will be played at Setsoto stadium on Friday and Sunday.
Lesotho will play Burundi in the 2014 World Cup preliminary qualifiers in November and are using the friendly ties as preparation for this enormous task.
Last week Likuena played two games and lost both, 1 — 0 to Carara Kicks and 2 — 1 to Free State Stars.
Two different teams were used for each game.
Despite the setbacks national coach Leslie Notši said the games were a fruitful exercise.
“The matches were very good for us. The teams we played against were very physical and full of running and we believe Burundi will have a similar approach,” Notši said.
Notši, who recently trimmed his squad from 42 to 25, said players who perform well for their clubs could still force their way into the national team before the Burundi game.
“This is an important phase of our programme. But it doesn’t mean that if you perform well for your club over the next months you won’t have a chance. The door will still be open,” Notši said.
He said the team’s main headache remains scoring goals.
The only goal during the two recent friendlies came from Matlama striker Dlomo Monapathi in the game against Free State Stars.
“In the first game we created a lot of opportunities but our strikers were not able to score.
“Our strikers are having problems of scoring goals,” Notši said.
“In the second game we dominated the first half and took the lead. But our opponents came back stronger in the second half and scored in the last 15 minutes,” he said.
“We are however satisfied with our overall performance. We saw players that are determined and it has helped a lot in the team selection.”