Fallen giants LDF out to reclaim lost glory

The new and improved LDF? Sohle-Sohle are looking to once again be mentioned
amongst Lesotho's elite...

There was a time LDF were the most feared team in Lesotho, when the mere mention of LDF’s name sent chills down the spines of men, women and children as if the army side were some sort of monster.

There was good reason.

Between 1997 and 2001 LDF won four of five league titles and became the country’s most feared team both for their style and strength on the field of play.

The only side to break LDF’s dominance during that 1997 to 2001 peak period was Lesotho Prison Service (now LCS) and the Ratjomose club’s supremacy earned them the nickname Sohle-Sohle.

LDF’s achievements still rank today.

Even with the recent hegemony of Lioli and Bantu, no team in Lesotho football history has ever won three league titles in a row as LDF did in 1997, 1998 and 1999. No local side either has passed the first stage of CAF Champions League as the army side did in 2000.

LDF’s dominant era:

1994    LDF 1995    Majantja 1996    Rovers 1997    LDF 1998    LDF 1999    LDF 2000    Lesotho Prisons Service  2001    LDF 2002    Lesotho Prisons Service  2003    Matlama 2004    LDF

Times have changed, however, and LDF have fallen far from those heady days.

LDF are without a league title success since 2004.

In fact, Sohle-Sohle haven’t won any piece of silverware since winning the Buddie Top 4 in 2008.

Things descended to their lowest point in 2014 when, for the first time, LDF missed out on the top four altogether as the last remnants of the club’s golden age such as Lire Phiri, Malefetsane Pheko and Molefe Lekoekoe finally faded away.

Malefetsane Pheko (foreground) is now an assistant coach at LDF...

LDF went through a lean spell from there, finishing eighth in 2016 and sixth in 2017.

The steep decline needed a decisive solution and the man tasked with LDF’s revival was Motheo Mohapi who was in charge the last time Sohle-Sohle came closest to winning the league – in 2011 when LDF lost out by a point to LCS, on the final day of the season.

Mohapi is also well-versed in LDF’s storied traditions having been a part of the side’s successful title-winning teams in the late nineties.

It has been a serious rebuilding job for Mohapi but it is one the former Lesotho coach has done well and whose fruits are slowly showing.

Last season, in Mohapi’s second full season in charge, LDF returned to the league’s top four for the first time since 2013 and last weekend LDF finally tasted the Top 4 Independence Cup again.

Although the army didn’t win the tournament, losing to Bantu in the semi-finals, it was a positive step forward.

LDF ultimately finished third in the Independence Cup after beating Matlama 4-3 in a thrilling third-place playoff.

Mohapi has had to be creative in improving his squad because luring players to LDF isn’t as easy as it used to be; firstly, because of LDF’s own institutional changes and, two, due to the sporting and economic rise of Bantu and Lioli, for example.

“The people who played in 2004 were the likes of (Sello) Ramakau, Eric (Makara), and (Mpota) Khoanyane,” Mohapi says.

Pointing the way forward for LDF... Sohle-Sohle coach Motheo Mohapi

“(But LDF) stopped outsourcing players from outside and started only using players from inside (the army) and that is when the performance started declining. That’s when LDF stopped winning the league and this shows that a lack of quality players is the cause as to why LDF is where it is today.”

Mohapi has had to slowly and meticulously improve the quality of LDF’s squad and the pearl of his additions was the luring of Tšepo Toloane from Liphakoe to the army side before the 2016/17 season. The former Lesotho Under-20 international has blossomed and is now one of the country’s elite midfielders and a regular in the national side.

Indeed, after a scarcity of LDF names in the Likuena setup, four LDF players – Toloane, Lepheana Mofolo, Thabang Rabi and Likano Mphuthi – have received Likuena call-ups throughout the course of 2018. Toloane and Mphuthi are first team starters.

“It shows that we have a better team now than in the past few seasons and we are happy about it,” Mohapi says.

“We had been struggling for a long time but last season we managed to finish in the top three and we have to build on last season’s performance and ensure that we remain at the top with the big guns because that is where we are supposed to be,” Mohapi adds.

LDF have made a solid enough start this season. They are fourth, three points behind leaders Matlama with 11 points from six games.

Tšepo Toloane (left) is at the forefront of the LDF revolution...

In fact, going back to April, Sohle-Sohle are one of the league’s form sides and no team has more wins than LDF’s nine since the start of April. Only Bantu, with nine wins as well in that span, are in the conversation.

LDF’s Econet Premier League form since April:
04-03-18	LDF	0-1	LMPS	L
21-04-18	LDF	2-1	Kick4Life	W
25-04-18	Majantja	0-2	LDF	W
29-04-18	LDF	2-1	Matlama	W
05-05-18	Liphakoe	0-1	LDF	W
10-05-18	LDF	1-2	Bantu	L
12-05-18	LDF	1-0	Linare	W
19-05-18	Sky Battalion	0-6	LDF	W
15-09-18	LDF	1-0	Majantja	W
23-09-18	Kick4Life	0-0	LDF	D
29-09-18	LDF	0-3	Bantu	L
04-10-18	Galaxy	0-1	LDF	W
07-10-18	LDF	1-0	Sefotha-fotha	W
21-10-18	Lioli	1-1	LDF	D

On Sunday LDF host LMPS at Ratjomose, the only side apart from Bantu (twice) to have beaten Sohle-Sohle in their last 14 Econet Premier League games, a 1-0 reverse in March.

A win over Simunye on Sunday at worst would keep LDF fourth in the Econet Premiership. At best, it would show Sohle-Sohle are finally back on their way to being a championship contender again.