Lesotho’s national women’s team starts its COSAFA Women’s Cup tomorrow looking to build on recent positive steps for local women’s football.
The regional championship kicked off with a shock yesterday as hosts South Africa were beaten 4-3 by Malawi in Tshwane. Apart from being hosts, South Africa also happens to be the record champions of the COSAFA Women’s Cup with seven titles from the previous 10 tournaments.
However, South Africa haven’t won either of the previous two tournaments albeit with second-string teams.
B-teams or not, the successes of Tanzania in 2021 and Zambia last year show how competitive women’s football is becoming in the region.
The renewed commitment to the COSAFA Women’s Cup has helped greatly with the tournament having been held every year since 2017 after a six-year absence from 2011 because of a lack of sponsorship.
The advent in 2021 of the COSAFA Women’s Champions League featuring the champions from the region’s national leagues has raised the bar even further and the fruits of the two initiatives are most vividly seen in the meteoric rise of Zambian women’s football.
Zambia’s Green Buffaloes shocked everyone last year by winning the COSAFA Women’s Champions League and, a short while later, the national side followed suit by capturing the COSAFA Women’s Cup. Both times South Africa was on the receiving end, first with Mamelodi Sundowns and then the national side, Banyana Banyana.
Zambia parlayed those successes into a maiden spot at the 2023 FIFA World Cup earlier this year in Australia and New Zealand, and they were not done. ‘Shepolopolo’ capped their remarkable story by beating Costa Rica 3-1 in July to secure the country’s first-ever win at a FIFA World Cup, in men’s or women’s football.
Lesotho hopes to be the next hopeful to show evidence of improvement, starting with tomorrow’s Group C opener against Zimbabwe, and then against Botswana and Namibia.
Mehalalitoe will be the underdogs against Zimbabwe who were the first nation to disturb South Africa’s dominance when they won the COSAFA Women’s Cup in 2011, but a point for Lesotho would put Pule Khojane’s side in a good position to progress from a balanced group.
This is Lesotho’s best side to date.
Mehalalitoe now take a squad to Tshwane that boasts three players in South Africa’s elite Hollywoodbets Super League in captain Boitumelo Rabale who plays for Mamelodi Sundowns as well as Mosili Motšoeneng and Litšeoane Maloro who play for Royal AM.
That evolution of the senior side can be traced to the growth of the Women’s Super League which has helped Lesotho become more competitive.
Last month, Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) showed progress at the COSAFA Women’s Champions League COSAFA in Durban where they finished third in their four-team group, an improvement on their debut performance in 2021 when they finished bottom of their pool.
Mehalalitoe are looking to build on that promise and, by and large, Lesotho has improved from the days of 8-0 and 9-0 losses to Zambia and Malawi in 2020.
Yes, there are several challenges that hinder Mehalalitoe’s progress and competitiveness on the international stage, and they have to be addressed because, despite their best efforts, the team is being held back by a lack of support.
The main challenge, of course, is the lack of financial support and investment in women’s football in the country. Without adequate financial resources, Mehalalitoe struggle to organise regular training sessions and travel for international games, and this places them at a significant disadvantage compared to countries with well-funded women’s football programmes.
Another difficulty is the limited infrastructure and facilities available for training and development. Women’s teams don’t have proper training grounds and other essential facilities that are necessary for players’ growth and improvement. This hampers their ability to meet international standards and impedes their progress in mastering crucial skills and tactics vital for success at higher levels.
Societal attitudes towards women’s football remain a significant challenge as well. Gender inequality is still prevalent and women’s football is often considered less important compared to the men’s game which leads to a lack of recognition, media coverage, and public interest in women’s football. Consequently, many talented women football players struggle to gain support and acknowledgment, making it more challenging to develop a competitive national team.
That is why this COSAFA Women’s Cup campaign feels so important, because it can potentially open eyes, and put eyes on Mehalalitoe. There is a gap for Lesotho to do well and, finally, Lesotho has players such as Rabale who are considered as some of the region’s best, something that the men’s game cannot boast.
Khojane has also built a promising young core that is sprinkled with the experience of the likes of Maloro.
And there were good signs at last year’s tournament when Lesotho beat Eswatini 3-0 in their first game and were competitive in their next two games despite losing to Zambia (7-0) and Namibia (2-0). This year might be Mehalalitoe’s best shot at making it out of the group stage which would be Lesotho’s best achievement since its first women’s international in 1998 (a 3-0 loss away in Mozambique).
Most importantly, it would provide added impetus to address the challenges facing the women’s game in the country.
Success at the COSAFA Women’s Cup would mean no more excuses and it would bring the realisation that the Lesotho government and football authorities have to invest more in women’s football, because the players are doing all that they can.
Teboho Molapo