MASERU –– The Lesotho Football Association (Lefa) has expressed disappointment with Bantu after the Premiership giants failed to release players for the national team’s two friendly matches against Swaziland last weekend. Defender Thabo Masualle and striker Tsebang Lebata did not turn-up for Seephephe ‘Mochini’ Matete’s first matches at the helm of the national side, which Likuena lost 1-0 and drew 0-0 at the Setsoto Stadium on Friday and Sunday, respectively. Lefa secretary-general, Mokhosi Mohapi, said the association would be guided by the rules that govern the game regarding the players’ no-show. “What I can tell you is that we are not happy with the whole situation and will direct the Premier League to take action based on what our rules and regulations say. That is all I can say at the moment regarding the whole issue,” Mohapi said. Mohapi also told the Lesotho Times that Lefa is already negotiating with Zimbabwe and Botswana football authorities to get more friendly matches for Likuena, as part of the team’s preparations for the 2015 African Nations Cup qualifiers which get underway in May. However, Bantu communications and marketing manager, Bokang Phasumane, said the players in question could not be part of Likuena for different reasons. “Masualle has not been feeling well since our match against Lioli (two weeks ago), which is why he ended up not reporting for national duty. “It was a bit risky to release the player when he was unwell and also based on the heavy schedule of games for our team,” Phasumane said. “If Masualle had turned up, he would have played four matches in the space of five days. Look, Likuena had a match on Friday, while his team had a league match against LDF the following day. On Sunday, he would have played for the national team, then a league game on Tuesday had it not been that Tuesday’s match was postponed due to heavy rains. So the player was not released for his wellbeing, and nothing else.” As for Lebata, Phasumane said the striker could not attend the week-long Likuena camp due to school-commitments. “We all know that he is a student at the National University of Lesotho and unfortunately, school-commitments could not allow him to be in camp with the national team,” said Phasumane.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 16:00:35 +0000
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