By Mikia Kalati
NEWS that outgoing Lesotho Football Association (Lefa) technical director, Seephephe ‘Mochini’ Matete could fill the vacant Likuena coaching position has attracted different opinions across the country.
According to reports coming out of the Lefa headquarters, Matete is the favourite to fill the void left by Leslie Notši, who has since joined South African First Division side, United FC.
Another Matlama legend, Halemakale Mahlaha, is also heavily tipped to join Likuena as Matete’s assistant.
Mahlaha has previously coached Lioli and Matlama and has recently been helping A Division side, Rovers.
The controversy surrounding Matete’s taking over stems from the fact that he is the same man Lefa was forced to remove as technical director after Fifa said he was not fit to head the technical department of our football.
Though Lefa is yet to deny or confirm the move, questions are being raised about Matete’s capacity to take the biggest coaching job in Lesotho.
We cannot ignore the fact that in this day and age, modern football requires hours on end researching, particularly on the internet. Unfortunately, however, he lost his job because he is not computer-literate.
Matete remains one of the greatest footballers to have come out of Lesotho and did well during his spell as coach of the national under-20 team, Makoanyane XI.
He was at the helm when Makoanyane XI qualified, for the very first time, for the 2005 African Youth Under-20 Championship held in Benin.
This achievement appears to have convinced certain quarters that he could be the answer to Likuena’s woes of perennially failing to qualify for major competitions.
Naturally, we will be expecting Lefa to advertise the positions and explain the attributes they want, and criteria they will use in selecting the best candidates.
Lefa secretary-general, Mokhosi Mohapi, in his own words, admitted the timing of Notši and Thotanyana was not good at all for the national team.
The two men left at a time Likuena was finally coming of age; after winning their last match 3-1 against Sudan in Khartoum in a World Cup qualifier.
This was the first time in over a decade that a Lesotho side had won away from home in such an important match. The team also reached the semi-finals of the regional Cosafa Cup in Zambia last year and finished the tournament as the highest-scoring side.
This can only mean that Lefa should appoint the right candidates for these two positions to ensure that the momentum is maintained.
Likuena are set to begin qualifiers for the 2015 Nations Cup later this year and if the draw is kind to us in the preliminary stage, we are expecting to do better than the past years.
Therefore, the sooner Lefa fills the vacancies, the better for the team and its preparations for the qualifiers.
