With neither side able to secure their spots in next year’s finals, Monday’s contest in Polokwane is a dead rubber, as the two nations aim to end Group C on a positive note.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Match preview<\/h2>\n
While five nations entered the penultimate round in Group C aware of the possibility of still qualifying for the 2026 World Cup<\/strong><\/a>, Lesotho could not secure maximum points against Nigeria, which might have given them that opportunity.<\/p>\n As it turned out, even a victory against the Super Eagles on Friday would have meant little due to Benin’s 1-0 win over Rwanda in the group’s other fixture \u2014 Gernot Rohr<\/strong><\/a>‘s men moved to 17 points, while Lesotho’s maximum tally if they beat Nigeria would have been 15.<\/p>\n As a result, Leslie Notsi<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s team must settle for entering the final round with their only target possibly overtaking Rwanda in fourth; they hold a five-point lead over Monday’s opponents, meaning they cannot finish bottom of the group either.<\/p>\n Having not won any of their previous four ‘home\u2019 matches in the series, losing three, the Crocodiles hope to end that drought against the bottom-ranked Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n With their fixtures held in South Africa due to the stadiums in Lesotho not meeting FIFA standards, Likuena have faced challenges, as shown by scoring one and conceding six in their recent games.<\/p>\n \n The ‘away\u2019 team enter Monday’s match fresh off a hard-fought draw against Bafana Bafana in their final ‘home\u2019 game in qualifying \u2014 Friday’s draw was played in South Africa.<\/p>\n Michael Nees<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s team spent large parts of the second half with 10 men after Knowledge Musona<\/strong><\/a>‘s 63rd-minute dismissal, but the Warriors defended bravely to challenge Bafana Bafana’s prospects.<\/p>\n With the optimism following that promising result still recent, the Southern African nation face their regional rivals hoping the positive feeling from that game benefits them in Polokwane.<\/p>\n While Lesotho have yet to win at home in their recent matches, Zimbabwe also have not secured maximum points on their away trips, losing two and drawing as many heading into their fifth and final away fixture.<\/p>\n With only two goals scored in those games, the Warriors\u2019 main issue is clear before their trip to Polokwane, where they aim to make the most of the neutral ground.<\/p>\n Since playing a goalless draw with Rwanda in November 2023, Zimbabwe have not kept an away clean sheet; they hope to follow up their clean sheet against South Africa with another solid performance, offering some consolation despite finishing bottom of Group C.<\/p>\n Lesotho World Cup Qualifying – Africa form:<\/p>\n Lesotho form (all competitions):<\/p>\n Zimbabwe World Cup Qualifying – Africa form:<\/p>\n Zimbabwe form (all competitions):<\/p>\n Lesotho avoided bookings in their 2-1 defeat by Nigeria, allowing Notsi to have his full squad available for Monday’s dead rubber.<\/p>\n Although Hlompho Kalake<\/strong><\/a> scored the Crocodiles’ goal in Friday’s defeat by the Super Eagles, which was their first as hosts in qualifying, he may have to accept a role as a substitute in the final round.<\/p>\n Unlike Lesotho, who seem to have a full squad for selection, Zimbabwe will be without Musona in the final group game after his dismissal in Friday\u2019s draw.<\/p>\n While Tawanda Chirewa<\/strong><\/a> failed to score in the scoreless match against South Africa, the forward aims to add to his tally of two goals.<\/p>\n Jordan Zemura<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s creativity could be vital to the Warriors\u2019 chances, with the Udinese man providing two assists across previous qualifiers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Lesotho possible starting lineup:<\/strong><\/p>\n Moerane; Malane, Mkwanazi, Makhele, Mokokoane, Matlabe; Rapuleng, Matsau, Toloane; Motebang, Jane<\/p>\n Zimbabwe possible starting lineup:<\/strong><\/p>\n Arubi; Garananga, Takwara, Hadebe, Lunga; Munetsi, Nakamba, Zemura; Billiat, Dube, Chirewa<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n With the pressure lifted for both sides, they should ideally play freely in Monday\u2019s match. However, Lesotho and Zimbabwe might end up sharing the points in the final group fixture in Polokwane.\u00a0<\/p>\n For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sports Mole previews Monday’s World Cup Qualifying – Africa clash between Lesotho and Zimbabwe, including predictions, team news and possible lineups. Lesotho ‘host’ winless Zimbabwe at the Peter Mokaba Stadium to finish World Cup 2026 qualifying. With neither side able to secure their spots in next year’s finals, Monday’s contest in Polokwane is a dead … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6077,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Preview-Lesotho-vs-Zimbabwe-prediction-team-news-lineups.net2F242F412Fmarvellous-nakamba-of-zimbab.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6078,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6076\/revisions\/6078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/p>\nTeam News<\/h2>\n
![\"Nigeria](\"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/https:\/\/sportsmole-media-prod.s3.gra.io.cloud.ovh.net\/uploads\/2025\/06\/imago1060300467-2-6841fa6a8d80.webp\")
<\/p>\n
\n![\"SM](\"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/https:\/\/sportsmole-media-prod.s3.gra.io.cloud.ovh.net\/20\/33\/sm-words-green-background.png\" "\\"SM")
<\/p>\nWe say: Lesotho 1-1 Zimbabwe<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
ID:583375:1false2false3false: from db desktop :LenBod:collect8882:<\/span>No Data Analysis info<\/span><\/p>\nPreviews by email<\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"