FORMER Likuena defender, Mpitsa Marai is part of an elite group of players globally that has achieved a rare feat of captaining and coaching their countries at the highest level of international football.

Marai represented his country from the Under-20 level and moved way up to the senior national team, where he was a member of the Likuena squad that reached the final of the COSAFA Cup but lost on lifting the trophy with Zimbabwe walking away with the big prize.

After hanging up his boots and moving into coaching, ‘Fish’, as the big defender is popularly known in local football circles, got his big breakthrough as a national team coach in 2016, when he was roped in as assistant coach to Moses Maliehe, prior to the COSAFA Cup in Namibia.

 Marai, who is currently the head coach of the Lesotho national Under-23, also had a brief spell as the interim coach for Likuena during the 2019 COSAFA Cup after Maliehe missed on the tournament owing to ill-health.

“With the national teams, I started at the Under-20 and the team was coached by Ntate Seephephe Matete, who handed me the captaincy. From there, a majority of us graduated to the Under-23 and eventually the senior team,” Marai recalls.

“That team had the likes of Thabang Mahlakajoe, Shalane Lehohla, Lehlohonolo Seema and the late Eric Makara. It was a big group of that moved from the Under-20 to the senior team. It was not surprising that all of us played a major role in helping Likuena reach the final of the COSAFA Cup in 2000.”

Marai developed amazing leadership qualities from a young age, hence, most coaches and clubs he played for handed him the captain’s armband.

“It was an honour for me that during my career I captained each team I played for, including all the national teams. I’m really honoured that I was given such a responsibility as a player. It shows that they saw great potential in me,” the retired defender says.

Marai, who at club level started his coaching journey at LCS, where spent over a decade as a player, reveals that he was inspired by the likes of former Likuena defender, Tlhokomelo Api and international players including Franco Baresi, Neil Tovey and Jaap Stam - all three were centre-backs like him.

“Locally, I loved the late Tlhokomelo Api with all my heart, maybe because he played as a centre-back like me. In South Africa, I liked Neil Tovey, and therefore when I started playing, I used jersey number nine like him. Abroad, I loved former Italy’s captain Baresi and Dutch legend, Jaap Stam. They inspired and influenced my choice to play as a centre-back.”

Marai fell in love with the beautiful game at a tender age, growing up at the Ratjomose Military Barracks, where his father worked as a soldier.

“I started playing under the current LDF coach, Ntate Motheo Mohapi and Ntate Montšo,” Marai says.

His father was later redeployed to Makoanyane Barracks and he joined another youth team called Texas, coached by former Likuena coach, the late Mafa ‘Ribbo’ Ramakau.