Lesotho Football Association Lijabatho head coach Kabelo Malapane is backing his charges to stage a fightback in their do-or-die CAF Champions League Preliminary Round second leg fixture against CFFA.
The Lesotho and Malagasy champions will do battle at Dobsonville Stadium on Saturday afternoon, with the winner guaranteed a spot in the next phase of the prestigious continental competition.
Lijabatho trail the tie 2-0 after CFFA drew first blood in the first leg encounter played in Mauritius last weekend.
The Polokwane-born coach, who took over the reins from James Madidilane — after he left the club for greener pastures having led Lijabatho to their first maiden league title — believes his side have the attributes to fight back from last weekend’s 2-0 defeat.
“Their lead is not that huge. I think a comeback is possible from 2-0. It’s not a bad score,” Malapane told journalists on Wednesday.
“We have to attack them; we have nothing to lose. We are hoping for a positive result, a positive response from our team.”
Malapane stated that playing in the CAF Champions League had been a different ball game to the domestic league.
“The intensity of playing in such competitions is different to domestic competitions and we have to rise to the occasion physically and mentally,” the Lijabatho mentor said.
Lijabatho will be looking to be the first Lesotho team since Bantu in 2018 to make it past the preliminary round of the CAF Champions League.
Bantu clinched a 4-2 penalty shootout victory over Township Rollers in the second leg played at Setsoto Stadium after Ntsane Lichaba’s heroics from the spotkicks.
