{"id":19477,"date":"2022-08-31T14:49:27","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T14:49:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge"},"modified":"2022-08-31T15:28:41","modified_gmt":"2022-08-31T15:28:41","slug":"matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge","title":{"rendered":"Matlama boss relishes Linare challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Matlama head coach Molebatsi Mothobi is relishing his side\u2019s battle against Linare on Saturday in the Alliance Winter Challenge in Maputsoe. Mothobi said Matlama have a score to settle with their Leribe rivals after \u2018Tse Tala\u2019 beat them twice in the league last season.<\/p>\n

The battles between Matlama and Linare go back almost 100 years and Saturday will be the latest instalment. The two giants, along with Bantu, Majantja and Lioli, were foundation members of what was then called the Basutoland Sports Association, the predecessor for the Lesotho Football Association.<\/p>\n

They first clashed in the Basutoland Football Cup which was the first \u201cnationwide\u201d tournament introduced in Lesotho in 1932. 90 years later and Matlama are looking for revenge after Linare spoiled their league-winning party with a 2-0 walloping when the sides met in May, also in Maputsoe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a battle with them, they beat us twice last season so we still want to settle the score,\u201d Mothobi said.<\/p>\n

The clash will be the second semi-final of the four-team bonanza with Lioli and Lesotho Correctional Service (LCS) scheduled to duke it out first in the morning before all eyes shift to the contest between Maseru and Leribe later in the day.<\/p>\n

Mothobi said the clash has added spice because it will be another step in Matlama\u2019s preparations for the CAF Champions League. \u2018Tse Putsoa\u2019 will face Coton Sport of Cameroon in the continental tournament\u2019s preliminary stage with Matlama hosting the first leg on September 9 before travelling to Cameroon a week later.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is one of the things we looked at, Linare could give us what we want,\u201d Mothobi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn as much as we want to win, we want a good performance and we should also get something from the match,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

It will be an interesting first look at the champions who have been criticised for a lack of international friendly matches in preparation for the CAF Champions League. However, Mothobi insisted Matlama are on track given when they started training.<\/p>\n

\u2018Tse Putsoa\u2019 are also still expected to play a friendly match against South African ABC Motsepe League side D\u2019General after the Alliance Winter Challenge which will make up for a cancelled game against DSTV Premiership outfit Sekhukhune United.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are doing well, people are expecting too much but don\u2019t know what is happening in (training),\u201d Mothobi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no time, I am happy; the competitions we are playing in have stopped us from having friendly matches because we were supposed to play Sekhukhune but we cannot because we are playing Alliance on the weekend,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Before that, however, Matlama will have to take care of Linare, who are coached by South African football legend Tebogo Moloi. Mothobi said \u2018Tse Tala\u2019 are tricky opponents because they have adopted a South African playing style that is different from what Matlama normally face.<\/p>\n

\u201cLinare has that thing, I think because of their coach they have adopted that (South African style).<\/p>\n

They pile pressure and move the ball fast; when you lose the ball, you have to get it back quickly. \u201d Mothobi said. \u201cWhen you play them, you know you will get something,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when we play them, they are more focused and they want to win, so it will help us.<\/p>\n

\u201d The Alliance Winter Challenge will be played over two days in Maputsoe with the final scheduled for Sunday afternoon. The winners will pocket a cool M25 000 jackpot.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Matlama head coach Molebatsi Mothobi is relishing his side\u2019s battle against Linare on Saturday in the Alliance Winter Challenge in Maputsoe. Mothobi said Matlama have a score to settle with their Leribe rivals after \u2018Tse Tala\u2019 beat them twice in the league last season. The battles between Matlama and Linare go back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":19476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17,16],"tags":[233,246,125,245],"class_list":["post-19477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-football","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nMatlama boss relishes Linare challenge - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Matlama head coach Molebatsi Mothobi is relishing his side\u2019s battle against Linare on Saturday in the Alliance Winter Ch ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Matlama boss relishes Linare challenge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Matlama head coach Molebatsi Mothobi is relishing his side\u2019s battle against Linare on Saturday in the Alliance Winter Ch ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-31T14:49:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-31T15:28:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_15-630f7e0b42696.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Matlama boss relishes Linare challenge\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-31T14:49:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-31T15:28:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge\"},\"wordCount\":592,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_15-630f7e0b42696.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"football\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge\",\"name\":\"Matlama boss relishes Linare challenge - Lesotho\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_15-630f7e0b42696.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-31T14:49:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-31T15:28:41+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Matlama head coach Molebatsi Mothobi is relishing his side\u2019s battle against Linare on Saturday in the Alliance Winter Ch ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_15-630f7e0b42696.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_15-630f7e0b42696.jpg\",\"width\":1536,\"height\":1024,\"caption\":\"Matlama boss relishes Linare challenge\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Matlama boss relishes Linare challenge\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\",\"name\":\"Lesotho\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Matlama boss relishes Linare challenge - Lesotho","description":"Matlama head coach Molebatsi Mothobi is relishing his side\u2019s battle against Linare on Saturday in the Alliance Winter Ch ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Matlama boss relishes Linare challenge","og_description":"Matlama head coach Molebatsi Mothobi is relishing his side\u2019s battle against Linare on Saturday in the Alliance Winter Ch ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge","og_site_name":"Lesotho","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-08-31T14:49:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-31T15:28:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1536,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_15-630f7e0b42696.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Matlama boss relishes Linare challenge","datePublished":"2022-08-31T14:49:27+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-31T15:28:41+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge"},"wordCount":592,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_15-630f7e0b42696.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Lesotho","football","Lesotho"],"articleSection":["all news","homepage-english","sport","twitter"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge","name":"Matlama boss relishes Linare challenge - Lesotho","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_15-630f7e0b42696.jpg","datePublished":"2022-08-31T14:49:27+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-31T15:28:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Matlama head coach Molebatsi Mothobi is relishing his side\u2019s battle against Linare on Saturday in the Alliance Winter Ch ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_15-630f7e0b42696.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_15-630f7e0b42696.jpg","width":1536,"height":1024,"caption":"Matlama boss relishes Linare challenge"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/matlama-boss-relishes-linare-challenge#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Matlama boss relishes Linare challenge"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/","name":"Lesotho","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19477","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19477"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19477\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}