Lesotho hope to turn silver into gold
Lesotho will be hoping to go one better when they compete at the COSAFA Under-17 Girls’ Championship to be staged in Windhoek, Namibia from May 10-17.
Lesotho were on debut at the previous regional finals in Johannesburg last December and made it all the way to the final before a humbling 15-0 loss to Zambia.
It was a one-sided decider, but Lesotho had done superbly to get that far and only conceded two goals in their four games before the final, scoring a whopping 17 themselves.
That shows their enormous potential and they will look to put behind them what was obviously an off day at the UJ Soweto Stadium.
This year they have been draw in Group C along with Botswana and Zimbabwe for the tournament in Windhoek, where the top team in each pool automatically advances to the semifinals, along with the best-placed runner-up.
Lesotho defeated Eswatini 6-0 in their first ever game in the tournament having not entered the first four editions.
They followed that up with a 10-0 win over Comoros, a game in which Ntsamaeng Tholo netted four goals.
Their final pool match resulted in a 2-0 loss to Mozambique, but Lesotho had done enough to claim the best runner-up spot.
That meant a rematch with Mozambique in the semifinals and this time they triumphed 1-0 thanks to a 94thminute winner from Nteboheleng Sooane.
They advanced to the final but faced a Zambia side that were simply too strong on the day, but the team will have learnt much from the experience and have their eyes on the gold medal this time round.
LESOTHO
Tournament finishes:
2019 – Did not enter
2020 – Did not enter
2021 – Did not enter
2022 – Did not enter
2023 – Not played
2024 – Runners-up
All-time match record:
P5 W3 D0 L2 GF17 GA17
Biggest victory: 10-0 vs Comoros (Group Stages, 06/12/2024)
Biggest defeat: 0-15 vs Zambia (Final, 13/12/2024)
ALL-TIME GOALSCORERS
6 goals – Ntsamaeng Tholo
3 – Boiketlo Molise
2 – Tebello Lesala, Thato Molete, Nteboheleng Sooane
1 – Lekenyane Mampona, Itumeleng Phiri