Zambia overpowers Lesotho in 9-0 COSAFA rout -

Thabo Rakhomo

The Lesotho Women’s Under-20 team is currently competing in the 2024 COSAFA Women’s Championship, held in Soweto, South Africa.

The tournament began on Tuesday and will conclude on Sunday, featuring five national teams: South Africa (hosts), Lesotho, Zambia, Mozambique, and Botswana.

Teams are battling in a round-robin format, where each team faces all others, and the team finishing first will be crowned champions. This point system format was also used during the 2014 AUSC Region 5 Games.

Lesotho’s campaign opened with a tough 9-0 defeat to Zambia, exposing the team’s lack of preparation and experience. In the second fixture of the day, South Africa cruised past Mozambique with a 4-0 victory.

Speaking after the match, Lesotho coach Elizabeth Yelimala congratulated Zambia’s coach and acknowledged the challenges her team faced. “Most of my players are experiencing this level of competition for the first time. It took them a while to settle, especially playing against athletes they’ve only seen on television,” she said.

Yelimala also noted that the team’s preparation was far from ideal, with most players taken straight from school to join the tournament. This lack of readiness was evident during the match, as Lesotho struggled to string together five consecutive passes, while Zambia displayed superior chemistry and experience.

Zambia’s dominance continued in their second match, where they defeated hosts South Africa 3-0, showcasing their strength and tournament readiness.

Lesotho’s second game will see them take on South Africa today at 3 PM at the University of Johannesburg’s Soweto Campus Stadium.

Despite the tough opening, Yelimala remains optimistic. “We’ve learned a lot from the Zambia match. We will work on fixing our issues and aim to present a stronger team against South Africa and in our upcoming games,” she said.

Lesotho’s remaining fixtures are: