Orlando Pirates coach issues update on Zakhele Lepasa following Bafana Bafana withdrawal

Lepasa was withdrawn from Bafana Bafana camp following last week’s friendly with eSwatini and did not make the trip to Ivory Coast, where South Africa played to a 1-1 draw against next year’s AFCON hosts on Tuesday night. 

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There was speculation, initially, why Lepasa had left the national team camp and Riveiro saw it fit to address the matter as well. 

"What I know is that Zakes came back from the camp last Saturday, if I'm not mistaken, in the morning, due to the injury. To be honest, he did have some problems before the [MTN8 final]," revealed Riveiro.

"We were really taking care of Zakhele in the days before the final [because] he was not 100 percent until the final day. He finished the game, again, not 100 percent, but he made it to be in the national team camp."

Riveiro says there was a valid reason why Lepasa was excluded from the trip to Abidjan, just as Hugo Broos had told SABC Sport upon arrival, while admitting it remains to be seen whether he'll be ready for their clash at Orlando Stadium against Spurs on Friday.

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"What happened in the national team camp is not in my knowledge, it's something I don't know, and I don't think it's a good idea to speculate about the health of the players," he added.

"If Zakes didn't complete the national team [camp], you can trust me that it is because he was not 100 percent, and the doctors and physios decided that the best [thing] for the player was to come back to us.

"But there's no doubt about whether Zakes was not 100 percent injured, I can tell you. He's getting better, but it's not 100 percent sure if he's going to make it to play on Friday for us."

Catch all the Carling Knockout round of 16 action LIVE on SABC 1 this weekend.

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