{"id":31408,"date":"2023-07-16T09:48:18","date_gmt":"2023-07-16T09:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lenka-gets-his-mojo-back"},"modified":"2023-07-16T10:09:34","modified_gmt":"2023-07-16T10:09:34","slug":"lenka-gets-his-mojo-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lenka-gets-his-mojo-back","title":{"rendered":"Lenka gets his mojo back"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Likuena defender, Ngaka Lenka, says getting a call-up to the Lesotho senior national team has helped him heal after he was expelled from LMPS over what he says were false links with criminal gangs.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old utility player left Makhomosha FC for LMPS FC in January 2019 in what looked as a big breakthrough for his football career. He had expected that the move would see him get a job with the police, a norm at clubs such as LMPS, LDF and LCS where footballers are offered job opportunities.<\/p>\n

But that dream move soon collapsed after he was suspected to be a member of a criminal gang due to his tattoos. Lenka, who was part of Veselin Jelusic squad that travelled to Eswatini for the two friendly matches last weekend, eventually left LMPS FC following several cases involving his dismal and other 11 other recruits.<\/p>\n

He joined relegated Swallows last season and was handed the captain\u2019s armband and is now being courted by several of the Premier League big guns. \u201cIt broke me I don\u2019t want to lie because my hope after joining LMPS FC was like others, I would get a job in the institution as has happened before with many footballers,\u201d Lenka said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a big step in the right direction so that I could help my family financially as my father is late and my mother needed my assistance with my siblings who are still in school.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe worst part of it all is that I was dismissed for things I\u2019m not and to this day I have no criminal case to my name.<\/p>\n

All I have been doing since I was a young boy was to play football. \u201d The lanky utility player said football and the support from his family helped me him to put the trauma behind him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe support I received from all people around me being my family and football colleagues helped me to get my groove back. I had to pick up the pieces because I knew that another door would open for me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing selected for the national team was a cherry on top though I was still struggling mentally, but it has always been my dream to one day play for the national team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to focus so that I get more opportunities with the national team and to be honest, it as the one thing that really made me forget about all that.<\/p>\n

\u201d Lenka stated that his dismissal from the police training hit hard on his mother, but she was very supportive throughout the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mum was very supportive throughout the process as well as my guardians here in Maseru, who I have been staying with since I left Thaba-Tseka to join LMPS.<\/p>\n

They still don\u2019t know why all that happened to me as they know I don\u2019t have any criminal record. \u201cMy motto in life is that I must be able to cope, react and respond in an appropriate way to every situation. I\u2019m always calm because I was told that challenges such as that I encountered help us to grow and become better people,\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. Likuena defender, Ngaka Lenka, says getting a call-up to the Lesotho senior national team has helped him heal after he was expelled from LMPS over what he says were false links with criminal gangs. The 25-year-old utility player left Makhomosha FC for LMPS FC in January 2019 in what looked as a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":31407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233,246,2289,245],"class_list":["post-31408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-footballers","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"\nLenka gets his mojo back - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Likuena defender, Ngaka Lenka, says getting a call-up to the Lesotho senior national team has helped him heal after he w ...\" \/>\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\/lenka-gets-his-mojo-back\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lenka gets his mojo back\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Likuena defender, Ngaka Lenka, says getting a call-up to the Lesotho senior national team has helped him heal after he w ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lenka-gets-his-mojo-back\" \/>\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=\"2023-07-16T09:48:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-16T10:09:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/07\/sm_1689489420.253589.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\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\/lenka-gets-his-mojo-back#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lenka-gets-his-mojo-back\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Lenka gets his mojo back\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-16T09:48:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-16T10:09:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lenka-gets-his-mojo-back\"},\"wordCount\":545,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lenka-gets-his-mojo-back#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/07\/sm_1689489420.253589.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"footballers\",\"Lesotho\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lenka-gets-his-mojo-back#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lenka-gets-his-mojo-back\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lenka-gets-his-mojo-back\",\"name\":\"Lenka gets his mojo back - 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