Notsi to lead Lesotho at COSAFA tournament

The Lesotho Football Association has appointed Leslie Notsi as the senior national team interim coach ahead of the Hollywoodbets COSAFA Cup after parting ways with Veselin Jelusic.

Notsi will be assisted by Bantu coach Bob Mafoso as Likuena heads to the regional tournament that will be staged in Durban from July 5-16. The two coaches worked together leading the Lesotho U-20 to the final of the COSAFA Youth Championship in 2017.

The 58-year-old, who played as a goalkeeper during his playing days, has enjoyed a lot of success with different Lesotho teams over the years.

He was in charge during the 2013 edition of the tournament in Zambia when Lesotho won it’s group which consisted of Botswana, Eswatini and Kenya.

Moses Maliehe is the other Lesotho coach to have achieved that feat when he took Likuena to summit of it’s group at the 2016 tournament played in Namibia.

Notsi’s accolades with the Lesotho junior teams include guiding the Lesotho national U-20 to the final of the COSAFA U-20 Youth Championship in 2017 in Zambia as well as becoming the second coach after the late Seephephe Matete to qualify his country to the CAF U-20 Africa Cup of Nations, which was then known as the Africa Youth Championship.

He hit the ground running making a few changes to the squad that was already assembled by Jelusic, handing first call-up to 21-year-Hlomelang Lebina, who was the joint top goal-scorer with 15-goals in the Vodacom Premier League alongside Jane Thabantṧo.

Lebina and club teammate, Seahlolo Mosoeu, are the youngest in the squad at 21-years-old, having both played at the COSAFA Under-20 championship two years ago. Both players are products of the Lesotho Football Association’s School of Excellence, where they arrived as 13-year-olds.