Why The Warriors Should Be Wary Of Lesotho
Zimbabwe Warriors cannot afford to underestimate Lesotho when they resume their 2026 World Cup qualifiers campaign at Orlando Stadium on Friday.
Jairos Tapera’s men have a tricky encounter against the Likuena before playing Bafana-Bafana in Bloemfontein on the 11th of June.
Lesotho who are ranked 149th in the latest FIFA rankings against Zimbabwe’s 122nd position, will be no pushover despite Warriors’ good record against them.
From the 11 games that the Warriors have played against Lesotho, Zimbabwe have won 5, draw 5 and lost only once. But practically this encounter presents itself as a real test for the Warriors
As you know all sports teams go through cycles and Lesotho has been on a rise since the appointment of Leslie Notsi and Bob Mafoso as the head and assistant coaches respectively.
Their assignment commenced with the COSAFA Cup, where Lesotho reached the final for the first time in 23-years, settling for silver after a narrow 1-0 loss to Zambia’s Chipolopolo.
They followed that with an impressive display against star studded Ivory Coast, who had to dig deep to clinch a 1-0 win at the newly opened Stade Laurent Pokou in San Pedro.
In November 2023, the rejuvenated Likuena side went on to draw against giants Nigeria in a 2026 World Cup qualifiers encounter before holding Benin to a goalless draw to earn two points from their first two World cup group C matches.
With a lot of quality players in the South African Premier league, Lesotho national team continue to improve their standards.
In the previous four games they drew nil all against South Africa, beat Ethiopia 2-1 before losing the 2nd leg.
On Saturday Lesotho came from behind to draw 1-1 against Namibia in Johannesburg during their preparatory match ahead of playing Zimbabwe. The Brave Warriors are sitting on top of group H of the 2026 World cup with six points from two games.
Meanwhile the new look Warriors – who still needs more time to gel as a team occupy fifth position in the group C of the 2026 World cup qualifiers, with two points from as much games.
In their previous four games the Warriors played two draws against Rwanda and Nigeria in their first two 2026 World Cup qualifiers in November last year.
The Warriors squad went on to beat Zambia in the four nations tournament before succumbing 3-1 to minnows Kenya in the final.
