Lucky Lekgwathi impressed with in-form Zakhele Lepasa

Lepasa scored his 10th goal of the season in Sunday’s MTN8 semi-final first leg against Stellenbosch FC at Athlone Stadium.

Speaking to SABC Sport, Lekgwathi says, from his own experience, representing one’s country grows a player’s belief in their capabilities. 

"Going to Bafana Bafana, that's why his game has improved so much, because for you to play for the national team, it means there's something special with you," said Lekgwathi.

"It happened with me, when I was still with Ria Stars, I got a [Bafana] call-up, I didn't play. When I joined Pirates, they called me and I became a regular.

"So, it shows there's something, even if other people can't see, the coach of Bafana can see, so I think going to SuperSport [United] and playing for Bafana helped him.

"It was a learning curve for him, going to SuperSport and coming back to Pirates, because there's no way you can compare the two [clubs] – Pirates is a big team, there are things that Pirates have that SuperSport don't have.

"So, for me, I think it was a learning curve for the boy, to say, 'You know what, I go back, I must work as hard.' You can see he's working extra hard – scoring goals is not easy, especially now in South Africa, we have good defenders.

"So I'm so impressed with him, and his work rate is so amazing, he must just continue to work hard."