Mikia Kalati
MASERU — Minister of Gender, Youth, Sports, and Recreation, Thesele ’Maseribane, on Friday night held a gala dinner to honour the Lesotho national team following their heroic performance at the Cosafa Cup tournament in Zambia.
Likuena reached the semi-finals of the Cosafa Cup which they lost to Zimbabwe.
Maseribane also handed gifts to players which included a cheque for M6 000 to thank the players for their impressive showing during the tournament.
“It all started in the World Cup qualifier away to Zambia in a match played in Ndola.
“Despite the 4-0 loss, I could see the potential in our team that they were poised for greater things,” Maseribane said.
The minister said he was very proud of the team’s performance and felt the players deserved to be rewarded.
“A few weeks ago I was attending a conference for sports in Abidjan.
“To my surprise when I got there, I was given a round of applause because of Likuena’s impressive performance at the regional tournament,” he said.
Maseribane said Lesotho should move away from the amateurish way the game is being managed.
He said there was also need to professionalise the game.
Maseribane also thanked the Cosafa delegation at the gala dinner led by President Seketu Patel.
Two local companies Matekane Group of Companies (MGC) and Nthane Brothers also pledged to donate M150 000 each to the team.
Speaking on behalf of Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, Home Affairs Minister, Joang Molapo, said he was very proud of the team’s performance as they recovered from their poor World Cup performances during the qualifiers.
“We are very proud of the team’s performance in Zambia where they were against big teams in our region in the semi-finals.
“I want to demand that they maintain the same standards in the future,” Molapo said.
He thanked the companies that pledged to support the team financially.
Likuena beat both Botswana and Kenya for the top spot in the group stages and the team was also the highest scoring team in the competition.
They also defeated Angola in the quarter-finals before losing out to Zimbabwe in the semi-finals.
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