Kapinga, Lakay encouraged to use Bafana Bafana to earn new contracts

Bafana Bafana Cosafa Cup coach Morena Ramoreboli has encouraged out of contract players such as Lesedi Kapinga and Lyle Lakay to use their time in the national team to woo new employers.  

Kapinga, who was released by Mamelodi Sundowns, and and Lakay whose future with Sundowns is not clear, are part of the Bafana Cosafa Cup squad made up of fringe players.  

The two players featured for Ramoreboli’s team in a 1-1 draw against Namibia in their sides’ group A opening game of the tournament at King Zwelithini Stadium in Durban on Wednesday.  

Lakay, who was on loan at Cape Town City last season, captained Bafana against Namibia. Goalkeeper Jethren Barr is another free agent in the squad after parting ways with Northern Irish side Portadown FC. 

Ramoreboli relies on the experience of players such as Lakay, Kapinga, Thabo Cele, Katlego Mohamme, Thembela Sikhakhane to win the Cosafa Cup for the second time, having won it in 2021.  

Cele, who gave a Man of the match performance against Namibia, recently recovered from injury that saw him spend time on the sidelines for his Polish team Radomiak.  

“We need to remind them that, for example, if you are talking about Kapinga, for him to sign with Sundowns it’s because of the performance he gave when he was at Black Leopards,” Ramoreboli said.  

“So, we needed to remind them of how good they are despite them not playing wherever they are. Some of them are out of contract and you need to remind them that for you to get a new contract people must see a good performance.  

“If you look at a performance like Mohamme, Lyle Lakay, many of these guys honestly speaking, I think they give their all and that is the most important thing.”  

Mohamme only made one appearance for Sundowns last season, playing seven minutes in their final DStv Premiership match against Maritzburg United.  

Ramoreboli and his men will face a Botswana national team he knows well as he is the head coach of Jwaneng Galaxy, the Botswana Premier League champion, at King Zwelithini Stadium on Saturday (3pm).  

The 42-year-old mentor is confident of going all the way with the Cosafa Cup, but they need to boost their chances by beating the Zebras   

“We have a huge chance of winning the tournament, it’s just that for us to win we need to win our matches,” Ramoreboli said.  

“Playing a draw against Namibia, maybe one can say we have opened the window for them as well because if they win their next two matches and we don’t win our matches it goes back to what happens with Botswana and Eswatini.  

“But we have also done ourselves a favour by playing a draw because it says we are now on equal points and they need to beat Eswatini and Botswana. We also need to beat Botswana and Eswatini and then we can talk about qualifying.  

“We need to check a couple of mistakes we made and come back in the next match better. I believe we have a chance of qualifying.”  

Bafana are likely to miss Keegan Allan against Botswana as the Swallows FC player is struggling with a groin injury.

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