Quote of the week

“To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you're not, pretend you are.” – Muhammad Ali

Bokang Lefty Mothoana

Lefty


Bokang Mothoana is one of the finest footballers Lesotho has produced and he currently plies his trade with Tunisia side Union Sportive Monastir. Lefty started his career with FC Likhopo and has worn the Likuena jersey 29 times. At the Molapo Sports Centre we believe it is our duty to keep tabs on the finest talent Lesotho has to offer, even it means buying a load of airtime.

In this section Lefty talks to us and updates us on how things are going…






Sunday, 3 July

On Wednesday Bokang Mothoana’s side Union Sportive surprisingly lost 2-1 to struggling Kasserine. However Monastir are still sitting pretty at the top of Tunisia’s Ligue 2. With one game to go they have already secured promotion to Ligue 1 and need one more win to clinch the title.

Monastir face US Ben Guerdane this evening in the final game of what has been a long but successful season. Ahead of the match Lefty speaks to us about captaining the Monastir for the first time in a 1-0 win over Olympique du Kef last Sunday and looks ahead to the season closer..

The Captain’s Armband…

The last couple of weeks have been very exciting with the league season winding down to an end. Personally it has been extra special; I was the captain last Sunday in our 1-0 win over Olympique du Kef. It was really a great honour to me to lead the team to victory. It was a proud moment for me and a big one in my career to be a captain in a foreign country. The last time I was a captain was when I was still playing for FC Likhopo back home and it was really a great feeling to do it again.

It has definitely motivated me a lot to work even harder; it shows that I have been doing something correctly. I would agree that it shows that I’m an important player and there is something good I have being doing. It also shows that the team, the management and everybody at Monastir have faith in me to lead the team and that the contribution I have made is appreciated by the club.

I think I did well thanks to the support of my teammates and the management. I would love to do it whenever I’m given a chance.

In the league we are left with one game to play against US Ben Guerdane (today) and we only need a point to be crowned champions. I think we are on track to claim the title, now we have to put all the required effort in order to gain maximum points from the game.

I’m not expecting a very difficult game but we shouldn’t underestimate our opponents because that can be out downfall and it can be a mistake that could cost us the championship.

US Ben Guerdane are not one of the bigger teams in Tunisia but they have some good individuals and they enjoy playing their football in the middle of the park. We have to approach the game like any other game, playing our own style of football and without putting ourselves under pressure. We have to enjoy the game and play with high concentration but most importantly we have to get an early goal

Lefty’s 2010/11 season

Games: 29

Goals: 2

Ligue 2 Table


P
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
1
US Monastir
25
13
9
3
35
20
15
48
2
ES Beni Khalled
25
13
7
5
36
27
9
46
3
Stade Gabesien
25
10
7
8
32
26
6
37
4
LPTS Tozeur
25
11
3
11
29
25
4
36
5
AS Djerba
25
9
8
8
20
29
1
35
6
EA Mateur
25
9
8
8
20
3
-3
35
7
CO Transports
25
8
9
8
26
27
-1
33
8
CS Korba
25
9
6
10
30
32
-2
33
9
Kasserine
25
7
10
8
24
25
-1
31
10
Moknine
25
8
6
11
32
34
-2
30
11
Jendouba Sports
25
7
9
9
25
28
-3
30
12
Olympique du Kef
25
7
8
10
23
26
-3
29
13
CS Msaken
25
6
9
10
25
31
-6
27
13
US Ben Guerdane
25
4
9
12
20
34
-14
21



Monastir’s Results

CS Msaken 0-0 US Monastir (Sunday, June 19), US Monastir 1-0 Olympique du Kef (Sunday, June 26), Kasserine 2-1 US Monastir (Wednesday, June 29)
·         US Monastir’s remaining game: US Ben Guerdane (Sunday, July 3)





Thursday, 16 June

It’s been an eventful month so far for Lefty and his teammates. Monastir opened the month with close 1-0 loss to LPTS Tozuer in the league before then succumbing 4-1 to Tunisia giants Esperance in the Tunisia Cup quarterfinals last Wednesday.

Lefty and his teammates had been hoping to reach their second Tunisia Cup final after making it to 2009’s season finale.

But just as seemed the wheels were coming off a fine season Monastir recovered to beat Moknine 2-1 on Sunday to maintain their stranglehold on Tunisia’s Ligue 2. It means a win on Sunday away to CS Msaken would bring Monastir one step closer to immediate promotion back to the Tunisia top-flight…

A tough beginning to June…

The Esperance game was very difficult and it was especially big for some of our younger players. It was a tense game played behind closed doors due to security problems we have had in Tunisia, but there were still many supporters sitting on top of the buildings just to watch it!

The level of the game was really high. Both teams played good football in the first half while also being very cautious not to concede an early goal. We went into the break goalless and we were quite satisfied but in the second half we lost concentration, conceded two silly goals and our goalkeeper received a red card.

That changed the game totally because we now had to chase the game and search for goals.

We managed to pull one back through Hedi Boukhiss and we looked for an equaliser, but it didn’t come and in the end the final score was 4-1 to Esperance.

Now we are shifting our focus on winning promotion, we are still in a very good position to make it back to Ligue 1.

We know that none of the remaining matches will be easy because basically all our opponents until the end of the season are fighting to stay in the second division. But I’m still very confident that we can get the points that we need to win promotion, and the league.

Overall the season has gone okay so far. It has been a tough one with every team working very hard. I would say what made it more difficult was the unrest that took place in the country earlier in the year.

It’s made it even tougher because lately we have been playing a lot of games in a short period of time because we trying to catch up after the break that was caused by the unrest. And we know that at this stage of the season teams are either fighting for promotion or battling to avoid relegation, so it’s tough and fatigue is also coming in.

Personally I have been very happy with my performance, I have played 25 of our 26 games and scored twice.

I have also been very happy with the performance of our team as a whole. We have been working really hard to get back to the premier league again and being on top of the table is the reward we are getting for our hard work so far.

Lefty’s 2010/11 season

Games: 26

Goals: 2

Ligue 2 Table
P
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
1
US Monastir
22
12
8
2
33
18
15
44
2
ES Beni Khalled
22
11
6
5
29
23
6
39
3
AS Djerba
22
9
8
5
27
20
7
35
4
Stade Gabesien
22
9
7
6
29
22
7
34
5
LPTS Tozeur
22
11
1
10
25
20
5
34
6
EA Mateur
22
9
7
6
18
18
0
34
7
Jendouba Sports
22
7
8
7
23
22
1
29
8
CS Korba
22
8
5
9
24
27
-3
29
9
CO Transports
22
6
9
7
21
24
-3
27
10
Kasserine
22
5
10
7
19
21
-2
25
11
Olympique du Kef
22
6
7
9
21
24
-3
25
12
CS Msaken
22
6
7
10
20
28
-8
22
13
Moknine
22
5
6
11
25
32
-7
21
14
US Ben Guerdane
22
3
7
12
15
30
-15
16