National Under 20 soccer side draws Mauritius

In an interview with the Lesotho News Agency (LENA), team manager Ts'iu Monne said the winner
between the two teams would meet South Africa in a game scheduled for July, with the winner of the latter  encounter proceeding on  to play a decider against Zimbabwe for the finals in Benin.

Makoanyane XI was upbeat about the draw, were eagerly looking forward to taking on Mauritius and they have already started training. They had seen their Mauritian opponents last December during the U-20 Council of Southern Africa Football Association (COSAFA) competition in Johannesburg, South Africa, Ts'iu said.

"If what we saw there is anything to go by, we are going to beat them and face South Africa in the next stage of the tournament," he said confidently.

Mauritius was amongst the teams that got an early exit from the tournament after being trounced 4-0 by Zambia, which went all the way to win the competition. Makoanyane XI played well in the tournament  reaching the quarterfinals only to beaten 2 - 0 by Zambia, he said.

As part of their preparations, they would hold a training camp in Mokhotlong playing against local clubs during the Easter Holiday and will hopefully organise one international friendly game. The training camp would also help them select some players from the district who might be co-opted into the squad before the final list is made.

Ts'iu Monne also announced that due to a lack of funds Matlama would go into the African Champions League first leg encounter against South Africa's Orlando Pirates without having played a single international friendly match. He is also the team's publicist.

"We wanted to have played one South African premiership team as part of our preparations but inadequate funds prevented us from doing so. However we still played against some local teams and are confident that we can beat Pirates at home," he said.

27 February 2004