LEFA Hosts Under - 15 Football Tournament

Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho and a local South African team play in a Lesotho Football Association (LEFA) sponsored Under - 15 football tournament beginning at the Bambatha Ts'ita Sports Arena this afternoon, April 16.

The three visiting teams are already in the country and are based at the Sports Arena, waiting for kick off, according to LEFA chief executive officer, Kholoang "Mirror" Mokalanyane, who appealed to youngsters and their parents to come witness the games, which are part of his association's drive to build a future senior national side.

"This is a project we hope to maintain all the way as part of efforts to build a formidable side that will also be the future Likuena. We therefore need support from parents and youth alike in our endeavour to lay good footballing foundations," he said.

The tournament aims at sharing and exchanging views as well as experiences in coaching and developing youth football since some of the invited teams like Ghana and Supersport have well-established full-time soccer academies.

it will be played on a round robin system for three days ending on April 17 with Lesotho as the host country, kicking off the games with a tricky assignment against South Africa in the first match of a double header at 14h00, while Botswana entertains Ghana in the second match of the day, Mokalanyane said.

On Saturday, hot favourites Ghana will lock horns with last year's champions Supersport in the first match, while Lesotho wraps up the day in a game against their Botswana counterparts. The four-nation tournament will end on Sunday when Lesotho faces Ghana in the second match of the day after the Botswana and Supersport first game, expected to start at 13h00.

The overall winners will take away a trophy plus gold medals, with the runners up taking silver medals and the third placed team being awarded bronze medals.

This is the second time Lesotho hosts a similar tournament featuring the same countries. In last year's games Supersport was ultimate champions.

16 April 2004