Africa-Press – Lesotho. Lesotho Defence force (LDF) Ladies football club will represent Lesotho at the Council of Southern Africa Football Association (COSAFA) Women Championship tournament that will be hosted in South Africa (SA)
on August 26th to September 04th. LDF Ladies will compete with seven neighbouring countries where teams are separated into two groups. They will encounter ‘Mamelodi
Sundows of SA as the hosting team, Double Action Ladies from Botswana and also Eswatini’s Manzini Wanderers in Group A. Group B will see Zambia Green Buffaloes drawn alongside Black Rhino Queens of Zimbabwe and Tura Magic from
Namibia. The top two teams in each pool will advance to the semi-finals until only two from the semi-finals will lock horns in the final match. The team that
will take the championship will advance to the continental final, which will be held in Egypt. In an interview with LDF Ladies Coach Lengana Nkhethoa, she
disclosed that COFASA Woman tournament will showcase the talent of her ladies. “I am looking forward to compete in this tournament not only to participate because
this is the only chance that our ladies have, but to go out there and prove our worth in the African continent”. Nkhethoa further mentioned that the technical team is working
hard to ensure that the training sessions are effective. “Excellent drills and formations will urge the team to come home with the championship crown.
Soccer is the mind and physical game, so being on the same group with big teams like ‘Mamelodi Sundows will be a nice competition for team LDF because it’s more determined not
to give the competitors any kind of respect,” said the Coach. He mentioned that they are experiencing several challenges that include finding the pitch with good terrain.
“We have the ground crises to contact our training session as we were permitted to use Setsoto Stadium but
later on Friday we were told to depart as it will undergo refurbishment. The stadium was our preferred ground because it was the only usable ground for
training sessions. However, we approached Lesotho Correctional Services management to allow us to use their ground for preparations. Nkhetoa further stated that the Covid-19 restrictions have
significantly limited their preparations following the fact that contact sports are still prohibited in the country, saying the players will not get any chance
to play even one friendly match. “Going to such a huge national tournament without playing friendly games to review new combinations and gain momentum is another
barrier; to solve that problem we have talked to Lesotho Football Association to organise one or two matches for us in SA before the tournament begins, we
cannot put Covid-19 challenges up front everything because other countries that we will be competing with also experience the same challenges, and we are
looking forward to winning this tournament. The good thing is that this COSAFA Women championship was just introduced this year,” added Nkhethoa. Meanwhile, LDF Ladies club is set to camp at Bambatha Tšita Sports
Arena premises from August 14th and are expected to be at COSAFA tournament two days before the tournament commences. LeFA will take care of all costs.
