Moorosi Tsiane
THE Likuena duo of Tšepo Seturumane and Motlomelo Mkhwanazi is at it again. The two bad boys failed to report for the national team camp last Friday.
The senior national team was expected to report camp last Friday to start preparing for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers against Sierra Leone and Nigeria next month.
According to coach Thabo Senong, all the local based players were expected to report for the camp on at midday on Friday.
All the players and staff reported for camp except for Bantu defender Mkhwanazi and LMPS forward Seturumane did not show up. Lioli striker Morapeli Lesoetsa also failed to show up because he was yet to be released by his employers. He was only released on Monday.
“They were all expected to report for camp on Friday as we were supposed to do Covid-19 tests before starting training,” Senong said.
“I am disappointed by the duo’s absence without any explanation because I was expecting all the local players to be available.”
He said Likuena manager Lehlohonolo Matlosa was already following up on the players.
“The manager is following up but he was failing to reach them. We are running more tests tomorrow (Tuesday) and I hope by then they will be available.
“As a coach, you always want your players to be available when you start your preparations so that they can run smoothly. It is therefore worrying when some are unavailable like this.”
He said they would conduct thorough investigations before deciding their next step regarding the duo.
“We will investigate and give them a chance to explain before the technical team decides what will happen.
“We want all the players to be happy…it is essential to protect the team. If a player is ill-disciplined, then he will be dropped.
“We must also ensure that there is chemistry and players are happy.”
This is not the first time for both players to get into trouble with national team authorities as the same has happened to Mkhwanazi during Moses Maliehe’s tenure as coach (2016 to 2019) while Seturumane fell out with the then coach Seephephe Matete (2014 to 2016).
