Mikia Kalati
MASERU — Lesotho Football Association president, Salemane Phafane, has praised the national team after they reached the Cosafa Cup quarter-finals in Zambia.
This is the first time that Likuena have reached the knockout stages of the regional tournament since losing in the final to Zimbabwe in 2000.
Phafane, who is also the vice-president of Cosafa, said the team has made the country proud.
“We are very proud of the team. There was too much pressure on them after a poor showing during the 2014 World Cup qualifiers and they have been able to silence the critics,” Phafane said.
“We are happy with the performance of the team and we are confident they will do well in the quarter-finals.”
Lesotho started the regional tournament with a two-all draw against Kenya and came back from two goals down to force a 3-3 draw against Botswana in the second match before beating Swaziland 2-0 on Thursday to finish as Group B winners.
Lesotho along with Group A winners Namibia each won R15 000 in prize money for finishing the best scoring teams in their respective groups.
Lesotho netted seven goals in their three matches in Group B, upsetting the form book and triumphing top of the standings to book a quarter-final place against Angola.
They scored twice against Kenya in their first game on Monday, three against Botswana 24 hours later and then two more against Swaziland on Thursday to edge the Zebras on goal difference in the standings.
Likuena were without skipper Moitheri Ntobo in their last group stage match while star winger, Litšepe Marabe, also missed the matches against Botswana and Swaziland.
Lesotho will face Angola in the quarterfinals on Sunday having beaten the Portuguese speaking country at the same stage on the road to the final of the 2000 edition of the tournament.
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