Mikia Kalati
LESOTHO-BORN Napo Matsoso has been trending in the local mainstream and social media, and rightly so as it emerged that come March, he will be lighting up the premier league in the United States of America.
Matsoso who has been studying and playing college football in the USA has been on the rise and has finally been rewarded with the lucrative chance to pit his skills against some of the biggest names in world football on the Major League Soccer (MLS) stage.
The MLS has been on an upward trajectory, having attracted some of football’s icons including Italy’s World Cup winning midfield genius Andrea Pirlo, former English club Chelsea’s UEFA Champions League winners Didier Drogba and Frank Lampard, England’s poster boys and Steven Gerrard and David Beckham who also won the UEFA Champions League with Liverpool and Manchester United respectively.
It is therefore an honour for Matsoso and in the true spirit of giving credit where it is due, I must hasten to praise former Arsenal and Likuena goalkeeper, Thabane Sutu for his role in this fairytale.
Sutu, who also played for Africa’s most successful club side, Egyptian giants Al Ahly, has been working in the US as a coach for almost two decades and he took a big gamble in taking Matsoso and other youngsters to the US.
One of those is Jane ‘Sunny’ Tšotleho who has now been capped seven times for Likuena.
The two boys have not looked back and have made good use of the opportunities handed to them by Sutu in the US.
It has really been a rough and tough journey for these youngsters having left their homes as teenagers, but they have overcome all the challenges to make it as soccer stars.
Among the challenges the players experienced on their journey to the top was having to go for seven years without seeing their families.
There is no way that we should downplay the crucial role Sutu has played in helping to give life to the boys’ dreams of achieving stardom.
It just goes to show what former players are capable of contributing to improve our standards of football.
With the necessary tools and support from our football association, the likes of Sutu and other former players could do more to plough back into our beloved sport.
Which is why I believe it of paramount importance for our football association to value former players and accept that they have a role to play in taking football to a higher level.
And this extends to other sporting disciplines.
I would love to see heroes such as Moses Kopo and Sephula Letuka who won medals at the Commonwealth Games given roles to produce boxing superstars who can even become bigger than they were in their heydays.
Our sporting associations should take a leaf from FIFA president Gianni Infantino who has been involving former players in most of his activities since his election in February 2016.
Sutu has led the way and it is my hope that former Orlando Pirates skipper, Lehlohonolo Seema will do likewise by taking some of our local talent to greener pastures.
Seema is currently interim head coach of Bloemfontein Celtic and given his stature in South African football, I am sure it will not be a problem for him to help some of our players to secure contracts in South Africa.
This is not to say that he should do this by any means necessary and feel himself pressured. All I am saying is that, he and other sporting icons should use their positions of influence whenever possible to assist the development of the next generation of superstars.
