{"id":24840,"date":"2023-02-03T15:25:20","date_gmt":"2023-02-03T15:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mkwanazi-enjoys-new-lease-of-life-at-bantu"},"modified":"2023-02-03T16:40:14","modified_gmt":"2023-02-03T16:40:14","slug":"mkwanazi-enjoys-new-lease-of-life-at-bantu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mkwanazi-enjoys-new-lease-of-life-at-bantu","title":{"rendered":"Mkwanazi enjoys new lease of life at Bantu"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Experienced defender Motlomelo Mkwanazi is enjoying his new role as Bantu skipper after he was handed the captain\u2019s armband at the start of the 2022\/23 season.<\/p>\n

Since Thapelo Mokhehle hanged his boots, Bantu have had several players sharing the leadership responsibilities such as the Marabe brothers in Lits\u030cepe and Mokone as well as Lindokuhle Phungulwa.<\/p>\n

However, Mkwanazi seems to have won the trust of the new Bantu head coach, Abram Moeketsi, who handed the responsibility of leading the team to the 28-year-old Leribe-born defender.<\/p>\n

A Mats\u030co Matebele, as Bantu are affectionately known, are at the summit of the Vodacom Premier League with 40 points from 17 games but have LDF breathing down their neck in second position with 37 points.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big challenge I must say, but once I was given the captain\u2019s armband, I realised that the coach believes in my abilities to lead this group of players,\u201d Mkwanazi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat means I had to lead by example on and off the pitch. It gave me pressure to work harder than I did before, be always disciplined and help the club achieve its objective in each game we play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the weapons that will help us reach the goals that we have put for us as a team to be successful,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After years of struggling to break into the Likuena starting line-up, the defender has established himself as a regular in the Veselin Jelusic\u2019s team and earned a lot of praises after marking Crystal Palace star Wilfred Zaha out of the game when Likuena played to a goalless draw against Ivory Coast late last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo now be a regular for the national team is a big achievement for me. I have been working very hard over the years to play regularly and I\u2019m happy that it has worked out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, in that match against Ivory Coast, I had to work very hard marking a very dangerous winger, but I also had to come to the party in the attacking phase of our game playing as a right back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there is a big room for improvement in my game and I think while people were happy with my performance, it wasn\u2019t the best for me as I feel I could have done better than that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Bantu skipper stated that his dream is to help Likuena compete for honours in the region and qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations. \u201cThere is a huge room for improvement as an individual and collectively. We need to work hard to help Likuena win matches to qualify for major competitions,\u201d Mkwanazi added.<\/p>\n

The hard tackling defender admitted that playing international football and coming against the best forwards in the continent such as Zaha and Nigeria duo of Kelechi Iheanacho and Osimhen has improved his game a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was in that game against Nigeria, where I also got to captain my country in an international match for the first time, I learnt that experience and speed count a lot in international football.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have stepped up and surprised these teams who are the powerhouses of our continent especially the home game at Setsoto Stadium against Nigeria, where we scored first. They were not expecting it and I think we have grown in leaps and bounds,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Experienced defender Motlomelo Mkwanazi is enjoying his new role as Bantu skipper after he was handed the captain\u2019s armband at the start of the 2022\/23 season. Since Thapelo Mokhehle hanged his boots, Bantu have had several players sharing the leadership responsibilities such as the Marabe brothers in Lits\u030cepe and Mokone as well […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":24839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233,246,245,2161],"class_list":["post-24840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-mkwanazi"],"yoast_head":"\nMkwanazi enjoys new lease of life at Bantu - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Experienced defender Motlomelo Mkwanazi is enjoying his new role as Bantu skipper after he was handed the captain\u2019s armb ...\" \/>\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\/mkwanazi-enjoys-new-lease-of-life-at-bantu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mkwanazi enjoys new lease of life at Bantu\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Experienced defender Motlomelo Mkwanazi is enjoying his new role as Bantu skipper after he was handed the captain\u2019s armb ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mkwanazi-enjoys-new-lease-of-life-at-bantu\" \/>\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=\"2023-02-03T15:25:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-03T16:40:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1675425413.14.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1660\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1106\" \/>\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\/mkwanazi-enjoys-new-lease-of-life-at-bantu#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mkwanazi-enjoys-new-lease-of-life-at-bantu\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Mkwanazi enjoys new lease of life at Bantu\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-03T15:25:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-03T16:40:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mkwanazi-enjoys-new-lease-of-life-at-bantu\"},\"wordCount\":581,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mkwanazi-enjoys-new-lease-of-life-at-bantu#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1675425413.14.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"Mkwanazi\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mkwanazi-enjoys-new-lease-of-life-at-bantu#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mkwanazi-enjoys-new-lease-of-life-at-bantu\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/mkwanazi-enjoys-new-lease-of-life-at-bantu\",\"name\":\"Mkwanazi enjoys new lease of life at Bantu - 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