{"id":46813,"date":"2026-09-29T17:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T15:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=46813"},"modified":"2026-09-29T17:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T15:08:08","slug":"lesothos-likuena-prepare-for-afcon-qualifier-against-morocco","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/lesothos-likuena-prepare-for-afcon-qualifier-against-morocco\/","title":{"rendered":"Lesotho\u2019s Likuena prepare for AFCON Qualifier against Morocco"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lesotho\u2019s national football team, Likuena, faces a formidable test when hosting Africa&#8217;s top-ranked side, Morocco, in their second 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Group A qualifier at Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein tonight.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The fixture presents a major contrast in footballing stature, with Morocco ranked 6th globally and 1st in Africa, while Lesotho enters the match positioned 146th in the world and 44th on the continent.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking ahead of the encounter, Likuena head coach Bob Mafoso acknowledged the vast disparity in squad experience and professional levels. Coach Mafoso highlighted that while most of his squad consists of semi-professional players facing elite international stars, his team must maintain maximum tactical discipline for the full 90 minutes and embrace the opportunity to compete against the continent&#8217;s best.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":46814,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-46813","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Lesotho hosts top ranked Morocco in 2027 AFCON Qualifying clash in SA ","published_date":"2026-09-29 17:03:59","news_description":"Lesotho hosts top ranked Morocco in 2027 AFCON Qualifying clash in SA ","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46815,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/46813\/revisions\/46815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=46813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}