Africa-Press – Lesotho. Linare head coach Leslie Notši will lead the national team Likuena in the COSAFA Cup in Durban, South Africa, next month after the sacking of Serbian born coach Veselin Jelusic.
The Lesotho Football Association (LEFA) on Monday announced it had parted ways with Jelusic after a 1-0 defeat to Comoros last Saturday in an Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier.
Jelusic leaves his position after 16 months in charge of Likuena and he was only able to register three victories during that time in the 10 official games he was in charge of.
Jelusic’s sacking does not come as a surprise after the team’s dismal performances in the AFCON qualifiers and their failure to advance to the semi-finals of COSAFA last year.
There was a feeling the writing was on the wall for the Serbian mentor after losing back-to-back AFCON qualifiers against Zambia in March. He went on to stay for two more months but it always seemed like he was on borrowed time.
Notši worked with Jelusic throughout his tenure with Likuena, in fact, when Jelusic was appointed in February last year, Notši was already preparing the team for the preliminaries against Seychelles. Surprisingly, Notši has retained his position and will take the team to the COSAFA Cup.
One coach in the Vodacom Premier League, who wished to remain anonymous, said normally it is the coach who shoulders the blame for poor performances and his interim replacements are always people he worked with.
The coach would not say whether retaining Notši is a good move or not, however. Likuena’s recent defeat against Comoros left Lesotho rooted at the bottom of their group with just one point.
In their last game, they will make the trip to Ivory Coast who will be hosting the AFCON tournament in January next year. Jelusic was not a favourite within the local football fraternity including fans and media.
He alienated the press and refused to give individual interviews to different media houses. The only time the media got to ask him questions was during press conferences.
He was the total opposite of his predecessor Thabo Senong of South Africa, and Jelusic’s coldness towards the media may have contributed to the negative perception several reporters had of him.
Statically, Likuena performed badly in the 10 games he was in charge of. His record read: three victories, two draws and five defeats. This does not include friendly matches.
When he arrived in February 2022, Jelusic emphasised the need to be realistic when it comes to assessing the quality of players Lesotho has compared to their opponents. He talked about the need to find balance to get results from these difficult games.
While there is no denying the quality of Lesotho’s players is lower compared to other countries with professional leagues, many believe Likuena should have done better in the games they played.
Speaking to thepost this week, Lijabatho head coach Teele Ntšonyana said statistics showed that Lesotho needs to develop a national playing philosophy.
Until a foundation of how and why Lesotho plays a certain way, there will be no end to hiring and firing of coaches, he said. Without such a foundation, there is a likelihood the next Likuena coach will suffer a similar fate to Jelusic.
“There is a lot that needs to be done to fix the national team. First, we need to develop a national playing philosophy.
All the departments and relevant people need to sit down and come up with such a philosophy. How do we play and why?” Ntšonyana said. “Before the league starts, everyone should sit down and discuss.
We have to develop that. If the national team does well (at the moment) it is by sheer luck and it will not be sustainable. We do not have a foundation to build on.
The likelihood is that every coach will not work well,” he said. When there is a uniform way of playing throughout the country the transition of players to the senior team will be easier. Vodacom Premier League coaches will be mandated by how the national team plays.
For More News And Analysis About Lesotho Follow Africa-Press
