Maliehe bemoans Likuena fitness level

Mikia Kalati

LIKUENA coach, Moses Maliehe, says his side needs to improve its fitness if they are to do well in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Likuena lost their two friendly games away to Botswana and Namibia on Saturday and Tuesday respectively and Maliehe says there were a lot of positives despite the disappointments.

They lost 1-0 to Botswana and lost 2-1 to Namibia.

Motebang Sera scored the early goal for Likuena in Namibia.

In both games, Likuena conceded late goals that handed the two countries the victories and Maliehe said it had to do with their lack of fitness.

“Against Namibia, we started the match very well scoring an early goal and the overall play of the team was very good,” the Likuena coach said.

“I think we were not bad and I am satisfied with what I saw in the first half and I think there were a lot of positives.”

Maliehe said it was in the second half where they failed to match the pace of the Namibians who were able to come from a goal down and win the game 2-1.

“I think we lost it in the second half where the demands of the match caught with us. They played pressure football and that is where I think we cracked and they took advantage of it,” he said.

“But I am happy because both countries brought their foreign based players and that gave us good matches,” he said.

Maliehe also said he was happy with debutants such as LDF’s Tšepo Toloane who has been on song for his side as well as Tšoarelo Bereng.

The South African-based Bereng has his roots in Lesotho but has previously played and lived in South Africa for teams like Chippa United and Platinum Stars.

“I think he played very well and adapted to our style, but will need more time to settle down.

“Toloane was also outstanding in the midfield and I think that is where we dominated in the early stages of the match against Namibia to score an early goal.

“We learnt a lot from the two matches and it will help us a lot going forward,” he said.

The two matches are part of Likuena’s preparations for the 2019 tournament that will be played in Cameroon.

Lesotho started their campaign with a 1-1 draw with Tanzania and next face Cape Verde in a group that also has Uganda.