Orlando Pirates head coach Jose Riveiro has addressed reports that
Zakhele Lepasa was withdrawn from the Bafana Bafana squad due to an
injury. Riveiro revealed that Lepasa did have injury concerns before the
MTN8 final against Mamelodi Sundowns and has taken the media into his
confidence that the Bafana striker was indeed injured.
“I’m not aware of the speculation around the case because I don’t read, I
don’t watch, I don’t know exactly what happened. What I know is that Zakes
came back to the camp last Saturday morning due to the injury,” Riveiro
said in a Carling Knockout press conference.
“To be honest he did have some problems before the final, we were really
taking care of Zakhele, in the previous days before the final he was not
100 percent until the final day. He finished the game again not 100
percent but he made it in the national team camp, what happened in the
national team camp is not in my knowledge, it’s something that I don’t
know,” he said.
Riveiro also gave an update on the status of Lepasa’s injury and revealed
that he’s a doubt for the Carling Knockout Cup round of 16 clash against
Cape Town Spurs on Friday.
“He’s getting better but he’s not 100 percent sure that he’s going to
make it to play on Friday for us,” he added.
Bafana team doctor Thabo Maleka had previously confirmed that the
26-year-old was withdrawn from the national team camp after their game
against Eswatini due to a knee injury, which was exacerbated by playing
too many games and training sessions.
There were rumours that Lepasa was withdrawn from the Bafana squad
because he allegedly had a fallout with head coach Hugo Broos, who denied
those claims.
