By Mikia Kalati
MASERU — National under-20 football team coach, Moses Maliehe, has said his charges will be “cautious” in Sunday’s African Youth Championship second-round,
first-leg clash against Angola at Setsoto stadium.
Makoanyane XI, as the Lesotho under-20 team is affectionately known, eliminated Swaziland 4-2 in the opening round of the continental competition to book a second-round date with football powerhouse Angola.
“It is going to be very difficult against Angola, but I’m confident we can win the first leg match here at home and take the battle to the return fixture in Luanda,” Maliehe said.
After a disappointing 1-2 loss to Swaziland in the second leg of the first-round tie — a defeat the coach attributed to overconfidence — Makoanyane XI will be hoping to bounce back in style, albeit through a very disciplined approach.
“It was all about complacency in the return-leg loss against Swaziland. The boys thought the job was already done after winning the first leg match 3-0 away from home and we nearly paid a heavy price for undermining our opponents. We will not let that happen again, hence our cautious approach to the match against Angola.”
Maliehe also emphasised the need to prepare the team mentally due to the youngsters’ lack of international experience.
“You have to understand that most of these boys are very young and still adapting to such international competitions, and we have to give them that space to learn,” said Maliehe.
“They nearly learned the hard way against Swaziland, but now the focus is on doing well against Angola.”
According to Maliehe, Makoanyane XI could miss “a few key players” due to school commitments, which he said had also affected the team’s training programme.
“Some of the players are preparing for their examinations, which is making it very difficult for us regarding our training schedule, but at the same time, I’m confident we will beat Angola,” Maliehe said.
“Whatever mistakes we did against Angola helped the team gain a bit of
experience and we will use that against our opponents.”
