{"id":33170,"date":"2023-08-30T14:42:59","date_gmt":"2023-08-30T14:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi"},"modified":"2023-08-30T14:52:37","modified_gmt":"2023-08-30T14:52:37","slug":"it-was-an-honour-says-notsi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi","title":{"rendered":"It was an honour, says Not\u0161i"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Fresh off a successful outing at the 2023 COSAFA Cup, Likuena interim head coach Leslie Nots\u030ci says he is honoured to have led Lesotho to the final for the first time in more than two decades.<\/p>\n

Nots\u030ci inspired Likuena to the final of the COSAFA Cup two weeks ago before the national side fell at the final hurdle to Zambia. Lesotho\u2019s memorable and surprising performance earned Nots\u030ci the coach of the tournament award to add to his glowing collection of achievements.<\/p>\n

Nots\u030ci believes Likuena would have won the trophy if Motebang Sera\u2019s second half goal in the final had stood. The goal came while Likuena were enjoying a dominant spell of possession and putting Zambia under pressure.<\/p>\n

Sera\u2019s goal was wrongly ruled offside by the first assistant, a decision that ultimately changed the destiny of the final. Speaking to thepost on Tuesday afternoon, Nots\u030ci said he has not given much thought to the idea of taking over the national job permanently but said he would think about it if it was offered.<\/p>\n

Nots\u030ci said he is grateful to have served the national team and thanked the Lesotho Football Association (LEFA) for trusting him and his technical team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am happy to do the job I was asked to do, I have to give credit to the technical team, it was teamwork,\u201d Nots\u030ci said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe if there is an approach (for me to take over permanently) I would think about it, but for now I am honoured to have served my country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sound preparations for the tournament and tactical discipline were key components to Likuena reaching the final \u2013 their first appearance in the showpiece game since 2000.<\/p>\n

Nots\u030ci took over from Serbia\u2019s Veselin Jelusic after disappointing results in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers. Nots\u030ci said Likuena\u2019s technical team sat down to plan, identify their weaknesses and also build on what they were good at.<\/p>\n

Nots\u030ci and his staff spoke with players in detail about what is expected of them and the importance of having confidence and patriotism. \u201cWe realised that confidence was low in the team, and we spoke with them to instil confidence as a group and individually,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cA controlled confidence and work on things we talked about. The first game was important and the second game too, the things we talked about showed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Lesotho topped Group C and progressed to the semi-finals with a game to spare after beating Mauritius (2-0) and Mozambique (1-0). Likuena lost their third group game, 4-2 to Angola, but it did not matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe third game, with one leg in the semi-final, was a chance to give other players game time, introduce the new players (and) that\u2019s why we saw the likes of (Mohlomi) Makhetha, Hlomelang (Lebina), (Seahlolo) Mosoeu.<\/p>\n

They raised their hands by being competitive and by not cracking under pressure,\u201d he said. Likuena then beat Malawi on penalties in the semi-finals to reach the final.<\/p>\n

Notsi said a successful national side is built in three tiers. There are \u2018senior pros\u2019, players that have been in the national team for a long time and bring invaluable experience.<\/p>\n

There are \u2018middle age\u2019 players, those that are not yet seniors but are on their path to taking the baton. This group includes players such as Thabang Malane.<\/p>\n

Then there are the young players that are still being introduced to the national team set up. Nots\u030ci said Likuena showed resilience, took the game to their opponents and showed that they have confidence in themselves.<\/p>\n

This continued all the way to the final against Zambia where Likuena came agonisingly close to tasting glory against their fancied opponents. \u201cWe have a team that cares, they are angry when they lose,\u201d Nots\u030ci said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to keep reminding them what it means to be a national team player. When the national anthem plays, it\u2019s about patriotism and pride,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLikuena has to play against big teams on the continent, learn and grow and be competitive, then sit down and assess which areas need improving. Playing these international tournaments is a way to grow for the team and players,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

For Likuena to have reached the final was down to a collective effort as Nots\u030ci insisted, however, there were some standout performances in the team. One that comes to mind is goalkeeper Sekhoane Moerane\u2019s heroics in the semi-final against Malawi where he saved three penalties in the penalty-shootout and then scored the winning penalty to send Likuena into the final<\/p>\n

Another player who stood out was Neo Mokhachane. He became Likuena\u2019s source of goals in the first two group games and his speed on the wing meant Likuena were able to attack and go at opponents with incredible pace.<\/p>\n

Nots\u030ci said Mokhachane had a good season in the league and was able to carry his form to the national team. Nots\u030ci reiterated that when the league is competitive, it becomes easier to integrate players into Likuena and international football.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Mokhachane) played the way we want him and others to play (which is to) use their speed as wingers and get into the opposition box,\u201d Nots\u030ci said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe worked on scoring goals in training. We worked on creating chances and shooting, and the players took that into the tournament,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Fresh off a successful outing at the 2023 COSAFA Cup, Likuena interim head coach Leslie Nots\u030ci says he is honoured to have led Lesotho to the final for the first time in more than two decades. Nots\u030ci inspired Likuena to the final of the COSAFA Cup two weeks ago before the national […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":33169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233,246,125,245],"class_list":["post-33170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-football","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nIt was an honour, says Not\u0161i - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fresh off a successful outing at the 2023 COSAFA Cup, Likuena interim head coach Leslie Nots\u030ci says he is honoured to ha ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"It was an honour, says Not\u0161i\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fresh off a successful outing at the 2023 COSAFA Cup, Likuena interim head coach Leslie Nots\u030ci says he is honoured to ha ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-30T14:42:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-30T14:52:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/08\/sm_1693394396.334084.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"It was an honour, says Not\u0161i\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-30T14:42:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-30T14:52:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi\"},\"wordCount\":922,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/08\/sm_1693394396.334084.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"football\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi\",\"name\":\"It was an honour, says Not\u0161i - Lesotho\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/08\/sm_1693394396.334084.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-08-30T14:42:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-30T14:52:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Fresh off a successful outing at the 2023 COSAFA Cup, Likuena interim head coach Leslie Nots\u030ci says he is honoured to ha ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/08\/sm_1693394396.334084.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/08\/sm_1693394396.334084.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"It was an honour, says Not\u0161i\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"It was an honour, says Not\u0161i\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\",\"name\":\"Lesotho\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"It was an honour, says Not\u0161i - Lesotho","description":"Fresh off a successful outing at the 2023 COSAFA Cup, Likuena interim head coach Leslie Nots\u030ci says he is honoured to ha ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"It was an honour, says Not\u0161i","og_description":"Fresh off a successful outing at the 2023 COSAFA Cup, Likuena interim head coach Leslie Nots\u030ci says he is honoured to ha ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi","og_site_name":"Lesotho","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-08-30T14:42:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-08-30T14:52:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/08\/sm_1693394396.334084.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"It was an honour, says Not\u0161i","datePublished":"2023-08-30T14:42:59+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-30T14:52:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi"},"wordCount":922,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/08\/sm_1693394396.334084.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Lesotho","football","Lesotho"],"articleSection":["all news","sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi","name":"It was an honour, says Not\u0161i - Lesotho","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/08\/sm_1693394396.334084.jpg","datePublished":"2023-08-30T14:42:59+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-30T14:52:37+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Fresh off a successful outing at the 2023 COSAFA Cup, Likuena interim head coach Leslie Nots\u030ci says he is honoured to ha ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/08\/sm_1693394396.334084.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/08\/sm_1693394396.334084.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"It was an honour, says Not\u0161i"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/it-was-an-honour-says-notsi#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"It was an honour, says Not\u0161i"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/","name":"Lesotho","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}