From The Archives - We've Been Here Before

We have been here before – the euphoria and unconfined joy, a young team with huge talent, an achievement against the odds and a nation rejoicing.

Just as the under-20 class of 2004 became the first side to qualify Lesotho for a continental tournament, 2010’s Makoanyane XI will be amongst Africa’s cream – world champions Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Mali, Gambia and hosts Libya – at the 2011 Caf African Youth Championship.

But that is where the similarities must end.

The Makoanyane XI

The Makoanyane XI team which qualified for the 2005 edition of the tournament in Benin is now nowhere to be seen and the miserable failure to build on that side was crystallised by the Lesotho Football Association’s (Lefa) disbanding of Likuena in February. Indeed it is why this moment, which is to be honest is only a development step, is so special – because Lesotho has been so starved of success on the football field.

That 2005 side, blessed with talents such as Tefo Maipato, Ralekoti Mokhahlane, Dlhomo Monapathi and Thabo Masualle, was never properly nurtured.

Only Bokang Mothoana, who now plies his trade in Tunisia, can be said to be fulfilling his potential.

Instead that special crop of players has spent the past six years stagnating while Likuena lost all its matches during the 2010 World Cup/Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

The question now to Lefa is whether things will be any different this time around and whether Lesotho will build on this achievement.

Is there the administrative fortitude to set clear strategic plans?  Will this momentum be sustained? Will Lehlomela Ramabele, Tšoanelo Koetle or Kopano Tseka lead a competitive Likuena in five years time? Or will Lefa go down the same path again and let precious talent rot away?

Lehlomela Ramabele celebrates after
Lesotho's qualification for the 2011 African Youth Championship

As Lefa’s public relations officer Baba Malephane said at the Makoanyane XI’s post match conference the side’s preparation and readiness for the African Youth Championship next March is no doubt vital; but of even more importance is having a strategy that will reap rewards long after the tournament’s end.

The main factor which destroys Lesotho’s football is the day-to-day structures which players are subjected to. Simply put, the amateur status of local football is unsustainable. having a strong national team and players involved in high-level competition is not mutually exclusive.

Even with the Makoanyane XI’s qualification their prospects over time in the current conditions are bleak because they are not exposed to an environment that will challenge them to develop.

In two years time Lesotho’s football in the country is supposed to be at least semi-professional. This should be the local authorities’ main priority.

Lesotho has always fared quite well in youth football but this promise peters out because of the overall poorness of the league the players play in, in what are supposed to be their best years.

One for the future: Montoeli Sonopo

In other words, there is no way a country can achieve football success with a Sunday League premier league such as the one in Lesotho.

It is often put forward as a self-soothing excuse that there are “poorer” countries which still succeed (even if they don’t have the best national leagues).

But Lesotho’s premier league is unquestionably the worst run in the region, with the lowest profile and the worst facilities.

Professionalising football is not a magic pill for success but a better structured club for example can manage a youth team, providing the possibility for national youth leagues and grassroots development. To make an example with the Makoanyane XI, all its players have been produced by current premier league clubs through their meagre resources, not as a result of any programs by Lefa.

Under-20 Leslie Notši has already expressed concern at the standard of strikers at his disposal and has said he will try engaging in programs with clubs because this is where players spend their time.

Unfortunately the biggest problem at the moment lies with the premier league as an organisation. The premier league is a lovey-dovey club that hopes for and lives off hand-outs. That is why clubs’ grounds were not checked before the season and why sides like LMPS and LDF continue to have shabby facilities even though they posses the manpower to maintain and improve their facilities.

There have to be stricter targets and punishments for the clubs that don’t meet them – either by monetary fines or even docking points. Time is running out and the ones who suffer most are the players.

Football it should not be forgotten is an interconnected industry. Success on the field, with quality players and acceptable facilities such as LCS’s Central Prison, translates into interest, business and sponsorship off it.

Makoanyane XI captain Basia Makepe (right)

It is a fallacy to believe this under-20 team will just win on the senior international stage by having a couple of camps in the year and by playing friendly matches. That will help, but football at the highest level has changed; it is not for jokers anymore.

Football is an everyday operation to improve.

These are the fundamental reasons why the 2004 under-20 team has stagnated.

There is also a strong case to export the current Makoanyane XI talent.

But with no agents in Lesotho Lefa in conjunction with relevant clubs have to set up clear strategies to find the players clubs in stronger leagues.

It should not happen as it did in 2004 when Maipato, Monapathi, Neo Makama and Katleho Moleko were shipped off to South African outfit Orlando Pirates to satisfy the greed of a certain few and then just dumped there.

Those moves in retrospect have done little for those players’ careers.

What this class of 2010 and others like them deserve is a chance to build on their talent by providing them with an environment that will take theirs and the country’s football to the next level.

Written in October 2010 following Lesotho’s qualification for the 2011 Caf African Youth Championships