{"id":24187,"date":"2023-01-18T11:02:40","date_gmt":"2023-01-18T11:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabantso-ageing-like-fine-wine"},"modified":"2023-01-18T12:00:55","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T12:00:55","slug":"thabantso-ageing-like-fine-wine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabantso-ageing-like-fine-wine","title":{"rendered":"Thabant\u0161o ageing like fine wine"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Veteran Matlama forward Jane Thabants\u030co has been playing top-flight football in Lesotho for over a decade but has not showed any signs of slowing down as he continues to bag domestic and international accolades.<\/p>\n

The Thaba Bosiu-born forward holds the record of the fastest goal in the history of the COSAFA Cup having netted 34 seconds into the match when Likuena clinched a 3-0 victory over Mauritius in the 2016 edition of the tournament played in Namibia.<\/p>\n

Thabants\u030co, who has been capped 67 times for his country, is a goal behind Motebang Sera in Likuena\u2019s all-time leading goal-scorer charts at the COSAFA Cup having overtaken legendary Teele Nts\u030conyana when he netted a winner in a 2-1 victory over Mauritius in the 2022 edition of the tournament.<\/p>\n

Thabants\u030co and Sera are tied on ten goals each as Likuena\u2019s all-time top goal-scorer in all competitions since making their debuts in 2015 and 2016 respectively.<\/p>\n

The diminutive forward, who has been playing topflight football since arriving at Matlama in 2010, walked away with the Midfielder of the Season during last season\u2019s Vodacom Premier League end of the season awards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very honoured and happy to have won almost 70 caps for my country. It takes a lot of hard work and dedication to get as many caps as possible going through different coaches with the national team,\u201d Thabants\u030co said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a dream from a very young age to play for my country and I still remember vividly how excited I was when I received my first call-up.<\/p>\n

Thabants\u030co, who started his football career while playing for Mablingo FC at Thaba Bosiu, stated that it\u2019s exciting that his record of the fastest goal in the COSAFA Cup scored in 2016, still stands to this day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very proud that that record still stands to this day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a moment I will cherish for the rest of my life because it\u2019s not every player that get to hold a record of a regional tournament,\u201d Thabants\u030co says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very proud of the career I have had since my days playing in the dusty grounds of Thaba Bosiu. That\u2019s where it all started before I joined Matlama in 2010.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmediately after I joined Matlama, I was selected for the Under-17 which was followed by the Under-20 and then the senior team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have managed to retain my place since 2015 when I won my first cap and it\u2019s something, I\u2019m very proud of,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u2018Morena oa Thaba\u2019, as the Likuena star is affectionately known by his supporters, stated it would be a dream come true for him to qualify for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations before hanging up his boots.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are still in the race to qualify for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations with Likuena and it would be a dream come true for all of us to qualify for the biggest tournament in our continent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came close a few years back and it would be amazing to finally get to play in the biggest competition in the continent,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

With his home team Machokha FC from Thaba Bosiu now playing in the premier league, Thabants\u030co admitted he would love to play for the club before hanging his boots.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have played only for Matlama in the elite league and yes, it would be good for me to win more trophies with the club before and maybe hang up the boots at my home team, Machokha, who are now playing in the Premier League,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Veteran Matlama forward Jane Thabants\u030co has been playing top-flight football in Lesotho for over a decade but has not showed any signs of slowing down as he continues to bag domestic and international accolades. The Thaba Bosiu-born forward holds the record of the fastest goal in the history of the COSAFA Cup […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":24186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233,246,125,245],"class_list":["post-24187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-football","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nThabant\u0161o ageing like fine wine - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Veteran Matlama forward Jane Thabants\u030co has been playing top-flight football in Lesotho for over a decade but has not sh ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabantso-ageing-like-fine-wine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thabant\u0161o ageing like fine wine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Veteran Matlama forward Jane Thabants\u030co has been playing top-flight football in Lesotho for over a decade but has not sh ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabantso-ageing-like-fine-wine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-18T11:02:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-18T12:00:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1674029651.34.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabantso-ageing-like-fine-wine#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabantso-ageing-like-fine-wine\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Thabant\u0161o ageing like fine wine\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-18T11:02:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-18T12:00:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabantso-ageing-like-fine-wine\"},\"wordCount\":612,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabantso-ageing-like-fine-wine#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1674029651.34.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"football\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabantso-ageing-like-fine-wine#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabantso-ageing-like-fine-wine\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/thabantso-ageing-like-fine-wine\",\"name\":\"Thabant\u0161o ageing like fine wine - 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