South Africa vs Lesotho COSAFA Cup LIVE Football Score 13 Jul 2021
MATCH INFO
ABOUT THE MATCH
South Africa is going head to head with Lesotho starting on 13 Jul 2021 at 13:00 UTC at First National Bank Stadium stadium, Johannesburg city, South Africa. The match is a part of the COSAFA Cup, Group A.
Lesotho–South Africa relations refers to the current and historical bilateral relations of South Africa and Lesotho. Lesotho, which is completely surrounded by South Africa, depends on South Africa for most of its economic affairs, and its foreign policy is often aligned with that of Pretoria.[1] Both are member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Southern African Customs Union and the Southern African Development Community. It’s believed that Lesotho, along with Eswatini, are satellite states of South Africa
The area known as Lesotho is completely surrounded by South Africa. Lesotho (then Basutoland, a British protectorate) was annexed to the Cape Colony in 1871, but became separate again (as a crown colony) in 1884. When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910, there were moves by the UK to include Lesotho. However, in October 1966, the Kingdom gained full independence. Despite formal independence, the white-controlled government in South Africa played a major role in its neighbour’s economic and political affairs, including supporting the government of Lesotho Prime Minister Chief Leabua Jonathan. In 1986, South Africa supported the coup d’état in Lesotho which brought Justin Lekhanya to power. In turn, Lekhanya’s government expelled African National Congress members as well as technicians from North Korea, which led to significantly better relations between the two countries.[
In September 1998, South Africa led a military intervention in Lesotho in the name of SADC, after post-election rioting and rumours of a possible coup. SADC troops withdrew from Lesotho in May of the following year.
South Africa will look to remain undefeated at the group stage of the COSAFA Cup when they host Lesotho on Tuesday at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.
The Bafana Bafana edged Eswatini 1-0 earlier this week, while Likuena will hope to move into a top-two position in Group A after losing 4-0 to Botswana on Saturday After three consecutive fifth-placed finishes in this competition on home soil, South Africa are hoping not to come up short once again.
They come into their third match of this tournament having won their opening two games, both 1-0, and they know that a win combined with a Zambia victory over Botswana would be enough to see them through to the semi-finals with one more group match to play. Having gone without a trophy on the international stage since capturing this event in 2016, they will hope that this can be the year that they finally bump their slump.
They struggled to create a lot of quality scoring opportunities in their opening two matches, but they have been able to do enough to win both of their games thanks to a stingy back three, who have kept their opponents off the scoreboard in three of their five matches this year.
Having to play back-to-back fixtures to wrap up the group stage will be a lot to ask for the core of this team, so they will be eager to earn another victory on Tuesday and move a step closer into the final four of this tournament. After making the semi-finals over their previous three campaigns, the ride has not been as smooth for Lesotho so far this time around.
This team were reduced to 10 men after only seven minutes in their opening match versus Eswatini, losing 3-1, and despite beating the defending champions Zambia 2-1 in their second match, they were beaten comprehensively by Botswana this past weekend.
If there is a silver lining for this side at the moment, it could be that they were able to win a game against a formidable opponent like Zambia and winning is something that has not come easily for this team. bLikuena have won only one of their last 14 matches, going back to early September 2019, and they have gone goalless in seven of those games.
Lesotho will be a desperate team when they take to the field on Tuesday, and we should not expect to see fear in this team going up against South Africa, as they have beaten the Bafana Bafana two consecutive times, scoring three goals in each game.
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