LIKUENA head coach Thabo Senong is looking forward to his first COSAFA tournament with the squad, after last year’s edition of the regional tournament failed to take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Pimville-born coach, who was appointed Lesotho coach in 2019, has enjoyed a lot of success coaching in the COSAFA tournaments having won four titles during his time working for the South African Football Association (SaFA).

Senong led South Africa’s Amajita to back-to-back Under-20 Championships in 2017 and 2018 respectively and was also the assistant coach to Shakes Mashaba when Bafana Bafana were crowned the COSAFA Cup Champions in Namibia in 2016.

His first gold medal at the regional tournament came when he was the assistant coach to Mashaba in 2013 with Amajita beating Kenya 2-0 to clinch first prize.

“Looking at the current Likuena squad, we have witnessed some positive individual performances and I’m certain that the 2021 COSAFA Cup will be a good tournament for us if we perform well collectively,” Senong stated.

“The COSAFA tournament is a good platform for the development of our players and to give them exposure. The tournament has laid promising careers for the likes of Motebang Sera, Tumelo Khutlang and Masoabi Nkoto.

“Personally, the tournament has maximized my coaching career when I was coaching the South African national teams. The greatest ambition is to write our own positives with the Lesotho team in 2021. Anything is possible in football and we just need the right characters, chemistry and a strong winning mentality in our team.”