Jelusic bemoans costly mistakes

MASERU – Likuena head coach Veselin Jelusic has bemoaned his team’s lack of international experience and costly mistakes after Likuena were knocked out of the 2022 COSAFA Cup by Eswatini on Sunday.

Likuena lost the Group B decider 2-0 at the King Zwelithini Stadium in Durban, South Africa, with Eswatini striking early through Sandile Gamedze and Sabelo Ndzinisa before Rethabile Rasethuntša was sent off for Likuena late in the game.

Lesotho had to win Group B to get through to the quarter-finals and Likuena started the mission well with a 2-1 victory over Malawi last Wednesday.

Lesotho then beat Mauritius 2-1 last Friday to set up the final game where Likuena only needed a draw to reach the knockout stages.

However, against Eswatini, Likuena looked shell-shocked after conceding twice within the opening 20 minutes of the first half and they never recovered.

Although, Likuena managed to grab a better foothold of the game after the break with improved build-up play, they never really troubled Eswatini’s defence and any hopes of a comeback were dashed when Rasethuntša was red carded in the 83rd minute.

A disappointed Jelusic said his side was not aggressive enough to start what was essentially a Group B final. He labelled their display “soft.”

“In the beginning of the game we committed some important errors and it decided the result,” Jelusic said.

“During that time, I was not happy with how we played, we played very soft and had a little bit of panic. It is lack of international experience of some players,” he said.

“After the goals we didn’t have anything to lose anymore we started to play better in a way that we agreed how to play the game.”

Jelusic said the psychological pressure was too much for some players and, as a result, they did not play according to instructions. The Serbian coach, who took charge of Likuena in February, said more matches against tough teams and professional players would help his players going forward.

“We have semi-professional players and we had three games in six days, we must also balance our energy throughout these games, it was our plan to play with some different players but I could see some of our players had too high psychological pressure they couldn’t handle themselves, they didn’t play according to our plans,” Jelusic said.

Meanwhile, it seems Eswatini have become an Achilles heel for Likuena because they also beat Lesotho in the group stages last year. That time a 3-1 defeat also condemned Lesotho to an early exit from the COSAFA Cup in the group stages.

The loss to Eswatini on Sunday was a far cry from the positivity of Lesotho opening two games last week. Katleho Makateng, who is enjoying his breakthrough, has become a jewel for the national team as well and he wrote his name all over the opening win over Malawi.

Makateng played a role in both goals although the first one was credited as an own goal for the defender. With all the scouts attending the regional games, it came as no surprise that Makateng was Likuena’s most talked about player on social media after the first two games.

It is not just Makateng’s eye for goal that impressed but his overall play as well, and when Likuena was on the back foot, he could be seen tracking back to help in defence.

The 23-year-old striker is one of the players who made their debut for the national team this year and he is still gaining international experience. In the second game against Mauritius, Lesotho’s goal-scorers were Tumelo Makha and Jane Thabantšo.

Likuena’s results:
06/07 Lesotho 2-1 Malawi
08/07 Lesotho 2-1 Mauritius
10/07 Eswatini 2-0 Lesotho

Tlalane Phahla