Mehalalitoe captain, Rabale in October last year became the first Lesotho player to win the CAF Champions League after lifting the inaugural edition of the Women\u2019s club tournament with Mamelodi Sundowns.<\/p>\n
Phat\u0161oane on the other hand inked his name in the history books of football in the country and the continent along with South Africa duo of Victor Gomes and Zakhele Siwela, by becoming the first referees from Southern Africa to officiate the final of the recent 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the welcome reception on Monday, Phat\u0161oane stated that the appointment to officiate the final between Senegal and Egypt came as a surprise to him as this was only his second time officiating at the continental showpiece.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe news of the appointment to officiate the final only reached us two days before the match and as you would expect, we were over the moon after we learnt of that decision,\u201d Phat\u0161oane revealed.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that moment the most important thing for us was to remain injury free. We had to be cautions in our preparations for the final so as not to jeopardise that dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
The T\u1e67enola born assistant referee, who has already officiated the CAF Super Cup and Confederations Cup finals, revealed that his expectation was to officiate at least three Afcon tournaments before he could dream of officiating the final of the continental showpiece.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy secret thoughout the years is simple, its to work hard and make use of every opportunity that comes my way. I always make sure that I\u2019m in good shape to be able to cope with the demands of a game because teams can make substitutes, who are fresh from the bench while referees don\u2019t have such an option,\u201d Phat\u0161oane said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI make sure that my fitness level can take me beyond the 90 minutes of every game I officiate.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I wasn\u2019t expecting to be part of the officiating team for the final because if you look at the team that I was working with, I\u2019m not yet at the level of their experience when it comes to officiating in continental competitions. I don\u2019t want to lie, it all came as a surprise looking at the fact that this was only my second Afcon tournament, my age and their experience,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
LeFA Executive Committee Member and Chairman of the Referees Committee, Tebalo Mpiti, stated that the Association is proud of Phat\u0161oane achievements and is adamant more referees will follow in his footsteps.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very proud of Phat\u0161oane, who has continued to fly our flag high internationally and I hope his younger colleagues are learning from him because his achievements at the international stage speak for themselves,\u201d Mpiti said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s our dream to see more referees getting to this level and surpassing his achievements. Looking at his performance in recent years and at the recent tournament, I have no doubt that he will make the next World Cup, which will make us prouder.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The Lesotho Football Association has honoured the duo of Souru Phat\u0161oane and Boitumelo \u2018Queen\u2019 Rabale following their milestones in the CAF Champions League and Africa Cup of Nations respectively. Mehalalitoe captain, Rabale in October last year became the first Lesotho player to win the CAF Champions League after lifting the inaugural edition of the Women\u2019s…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3299,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n