Lesotho beat Ethiopia to end hoodoo
Lesotho secured their first ever win over Ethiopia as they defeated Walia Ibex 2-1 in an international friendly match played at the at the Addis Ababa Stadium on Thursday.
The East African country had dominated the previous meetings between the two countries with two victories while the four other matches had ended in draws.
Likuena, as the Lesotho team is affectionately known, created better chances in the first half, but were unlucky not to open the scoring through Motebang Sera in the 25th minute.
The deadlock was finally broken in the 33rd minute through veteran forward, Jane Thabantšo, who got his way past a defender down the right flank before unleashing a power striker to beat Ethiopia goalkeeper, Seid Hablamu.
Likuena doubled their lead barely ten minutes later as goalkeeper, Moerane stole the spotlight with an incredible long-range goal from inside his half to send his side to the halftime break enjoying a comfortable 2-0 lead.
Ethiopia came back the strongest of the two teams in the second half and were able to find a goal through Mesfin Tafesse in the 51st minute, which would prove to be their consolation goal as Lesotho won the match.
Likuena coach Leslie Notši admitted that his side had to dig deep to beat Ethiopia in their own backyard.
“The game was very tired because we were expecting a tough encounter from Ethiopia as an experienced side that have played in competitions like Afcon,” Notši said.
“They are a very competitive side and gave us a run for our money, but we had prepared ourselves to absorb all they pressure they would through at us as the home side.
“I think we were able to do that in the first 20 minutes and then got the two goals which gave us the 2-0 lead at halftime.”
The two countries will face each other again on Sunday as Lesotho conclude their tour of East Africa.
“In the second half, we were expecting them to comeback strongly and they were able to get a goal, but we managed to take their pressure to get a win,” the Likuena coach said.
“There are a lot of lessons taken from the game, which will help us grow going forward.
“You could see that Ethiopia came into this game with a plan and a number of their players gave us a tough time with speedy and strength,” he said.
