Maseru
Lesotho’s senior national team have been thumped heavily in the hands of Morocco ina 2025 Total Energies Africa Cup of Nations qualifier match played at the Honneur Stadium in Oujda, Morocco on Monday evening.
Likuena as the team is affectionately known came into this encounter fresh from their 1:0 victory against Central African Republic (CAR) at the Toyata Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa last Friday and were hoping to maintain the positive results against the Atlas Lions (Morocco’s affectionate name) in their own backyard.
A first half hatrick by Brahim Diaz coupled by a brace from Soufiane Rahimi had Lesotho trailing the north African giants 5:0 and that shuttered all possible hopes of a comeback in the second half. Morocco then continued their demolishing campaign as striker Youssef En-Nesyri made it 6:0 in the 68th minute while Ishmael Saibari, rounded the scoring two minutes later handing Lesotho an overwhelming 7:0 defeat and arguably their heaviest one in the current qualifiers.
Likuena came into the two matches against Morocco and CAR with nothing other than pride to play for as hopes of securing a spot in Africa’s biggest sporting showpiece had faded away in match-day four after their 2:0 defeat against Gabon. The Leslie Notsi coached side, are currently in group B of the qualifiers and are languishing in third position with four points behind Gabon who boast 10 points and granting them qualification to the upcoming edition while Morocco who already had a spot secured for them by virtue of being hosts but, they still toped the group non-the less with a total of 18 points after winning all six matches. CAR are bottom of the group with three points.
Likuena embarrassed in Morocco
