Moorosi Tsiane
THE Lesotho Football Association (LeFA) says it is impressed with the women national teams’ performances against eSwatini last weekend.
This was said by the LeFA technical director, Leslie Notši, in an interview with the Lesotho Times this week.
The Monaheng Montšo coached Likhosatsana (the women under-20 team), beat eSwatini 3-0 on Saturday before being beaten 0-1 on Sunday by the same opponents.
The senior national team, Mehalalitoe were held in both matches first registering a 1-1 draw before drawing 2-2 on Sunday against eSwatini’s senior women’s national team. In both matches, the Lire Phiri coached Mehalalitoe found the back of the net first but their opponents fought back and equalised.
However, Notši said he is impressed with the performances of the two teams especially because they have just revamped them appointing Phiri as the senior team head coach and Paul Setoko as his assistant.
Notši said the move was recommended by one of the FIFA officials who facilitated a course for women’s football coaches in the country.
“The performances of both teams were encouraging and I think we are in the right direction because we recently revamped the team and appointed new coaches as per the FIFA recommendation,” Notši said.
The former Likuena coach however, said there is still lot of work to be done for the teams to get where the association wants.
“There is still room for improvement in both teams but at least they are improving and that has to be appreciated. The coaches in the senior team made their changes, which we have all seen. The players played with so much confidence and could knock the ball around with ease.
“I think we should work more on our goal scoring because that is the most important aspect if we want to win matches and also on the goalkeeping department,” he said.
Notši hailed the Women Super League saying it is one of the biggest factors that has contributed towards the improved performances of the respective national teams.
“The fact that we now have a league that is running helps to keep players active. The more they play, the more they grow in confidence hence the performance we saw at Setsoto last weekend. For now, what is important is that we help the coaches by arranging lot of friendlies so that the players will also gain exposure,” he said.
The ex-Matlama goalkeeper said the two teams are preparing for the COSAFA tournament which starts on 27 31 July and ends on 11 August 2019 in Port Elizabeth.
“They have to prepare for the COSAFA tournaments so they need those friendlies because if they play more, then the coaches will get more chances to try different combinations,” Notši said.
