Jelusic reacts to Lesotho COSAFA draw
Lesotho coach Veselin Jelusic has welcomed the COSAFA draw after his team was paired alongside Eswatini, Malawi and Mauritius in Group B for the 2022 edition of the regional tournament.
The draw for the regional showpiece slated for July 5-17 July in Durban, took place at Moses Mabhida Stadium on Tuesday.
Likuena, as the Lesotho national team is affectionately known, will look to emulate their performance of the 2016 edition of the COSAFA Cup in Namibia, where they defeated both Mauritius and Malawi 3-0 and 1-0 respectively.
The Mountain Kingdom’s side won all their three matches finishing on top of their group with nine points while their star forward, Jane Thabantṧo, put cherry on top of the cake by scoring in the 34th second in the win over Mauritius to register the fastest goal in the history of the COSAFA Cup.
“We have equal respect for all the teams that will be playing at this competition and in our group. We expect an interesting tournament, and we will possibly include new faces of young players in our team,” Jelusic said.
The Serbian born coach, who has had an impressive start to his tenure in charge Lesotho, is adamant the COSAFA tournament will be a good platform for his players to attract the attention of international scouts with some having already impressed in the recent goalless draw against Ivory Coast.
“Of course, one of our ideas is to see these players getting chances to play in the premier league in South Africa. It will help us when we play against strong national teams and let’s hope these things will happen in the future.
“Yes, the COSAFA Cup is another opportunity for our players to show their value and promote as we mentioned. It will be a chance for them to come to strong clubs and play professional football,” he said.
