SIHLANGU ARE VERY GOOD – LESOTHO COACH

(In Polokwane, Limpopo)

POLOKWANE – Sihlangu are causing Lesotho coach Moses Maliehe sleepless nights ahead of the two sides’ meeting in the COSAFA Cup quarter-final tomorrow night.

The two sides cross swords in what can be dubbed a kingdoms derby at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium here in Polokwane, over 200 kilometres from Johannesburg. Action gets underway at 5:30pm. Maliehe, who is taking the outfit from the mountainous kingdom to the regional soccer showpiece for a second straight year, stressed that his troops would need to bring their ‘A’ game to stop Swaziland.

“It will be difficult. Swaziland are very good,” said Maliehe when contacted for comment.
Asked if there were individual Eswatini players he was afraid to face, he said all the players posed a threat.
“We respect the whole Swaziland team, so I can’t single out any player. They are all very good.

“It will be a good day for both teams, but my goal is to take Lesotho to the final,” he said. Lesotho, who have named Poland-based players in their squad, were yet to arrive in Polokwane at the time of compiling this report. They were expected around 5pm.

Both teams are in chase of their maiden COSAFA championship. Lesotho reached the final in 2000. In the last outing, Sihlangu and Lesotho were eliminated by Zimbabwe. Sihlangu lost in the quarter-final by 2-1. Lesotho lost in the semi-finals.

The last meeting between the two countries in the COSAFA Cup was back in 2015. Eswatini won by 2-0, courtesy of strikes from Xolani ‘Chocco’ Sibandze and Mthunzi Mkhontfo. The latter did not make it this year.
Meanwhile, Anthony Mdluli’s troops arrived safely here on Wednesday night. They were yet to have their training session by 3pm yesterday.

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