Lesotho name Senong as new head coach

by Staff Reporter

Wednesday Aug 28, 2019. 15:00

South African Thabo Senong has been unveiled as the new coach of Lesotho, taking over from Moses Maliehe, who has been battling with illness.

Senong led the South African Under-20 side to back-to-back FIFA Under-20 World Cup finals, but did not have his contract renewed after a first round exit at the tournament in Poland earlier this year.

The ??-year-old has never coached at club level, but did also act as the assistant coach to Shakes Mashaba in the senior South African national team, Bafana Bafana.

He was dropped from that role when Stuart Baxter took over and concentrated on the Under-20 side.

Technical director Lesli Notsi had been acting as coach in the absence of Maliehe in recent times, which included a 6-2 aggregate victory over South Africa in the African Nations Championship qualifiers earlier this month.

Lesotho are next in action away in Ethiopia in a World Cup qualifier on September 4, before the return leg at home four days later.

They also have CHAN qualifiers against Zimbabwe later in the month, and have been pooled with Nigeria, Benin and Sierra Leone in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers that start in November.