Likuena coach fired

Seabata Mahao

The national team’s poor showing in recent international competitions has resulted in the firing of head coach, Veselin Jelusic.

Likuena’s unsurprising losses to Togo and Comoros last week, proved to be the final straw that broke the camel’s as Lesotho Football Association (LeFA) pulled the trigger on the Serbia-born coach with immediate effect.

Likuena recently lost 2-0 to Togo in a friendly match before losing 1-0 to Comoros in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Qualifier last weekend.

The Comoros loss means Likuena will not qualify for AFCON for the umpteenth time, despite still having one more qualifier match to play.

“The National Executive Committee of LeFA and the Senior National Team Coach, Veselin Jelusic have reached an agreement to part-ways amicably with immediate effect after 16 months working together,” LeFA said this week.

“The development comes following Likuena’s Saturday 1-0 loss to Comoros in the 2023 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, which has left the Lesotho team rooted at the bottom of their group with just a point that came in the goalless draw against Ivory Coast in June last year.”

LeFA further noted that under Jelusic, the national team went through “a bad spell of results losing their last competitive matches including back-to-back defeats to Zambia as well as defeats to Eswatini, Togo, and Comoros.”

LeFA has meanwhile roped in former Likuena coach and current Linare Football Club coach, Leslie Notsi to oversee Likuena’s campaign in the upcoming Hollywoodbets Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) Cup.

Bantu Football Club’s head coach, Bob Mafoso will deputise Notsi in the national team.

In the COSAFA tournament, Likuena are in Group B alongside Angola, Mauritius, and Mozambique for the July 5 to 16, 2023 tournament in Durban, South Africa.

The new coaches have hit the ground as Likuena is currently in camp.

The two coaches added new faces to the Likuena setup, with Bantu’s Thabo Lesaoana and the Vodacom Premier League 2022/2023 top goal scorer, Hlomelang Lebina.

Teboho Ratibisi of LDF FC, Letlatsa Moshoeshoe of LDF FC, and Thabang Mari of Matlama FC are the other new additions.