Thuso Phala (born 27 May 1986) is a retired South African

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He is the inventor of Thuso Phala dance moves that became popular to South African soccer fans and dancers at large, the moves he made after scoring a goal. Phala was featured in a BBC documentary in 2004 entitled 'Football and Freedom' which followed the paths of two 13-year-old South Africans aiming to become professional footballers.

International career

Since making his debut for the

South Africa national football team The South Africa national soccer team represents South Africa in men's international soccer and is run by the South African Football Association, the governing body for soccer in South Africa. Nicknamed Bafana Bafana (The Boys in Zulu), the ...

in 2010, Phala has appeared at both the

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

. He scored Bafana Bafana's opening goal of the 2015 tournament in a 3–1 loss to

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

International goals

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Phala, Thuso 1986 births Living people South African men's soccer players Men's association football midfielders Kaizer Chiefs F.C. players Platinum Stars F.C. players Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. players SuperSport United F.C. players Black Leopards F.C. players Soccer players from Soweto South Africa men's international soccer players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players 21st-century South African sportsmen