‘He is mature’: Pirates coach Riveiro is sure Lepasa will stay grounded

Zakhele Lepasa is mature enough not to allow all the recent hype and praise to distract him from his amazing goalscoring form, says Orlando Pirates coach Jose Riveiro.  

Lepasa, 26, has been in excellent form for Riveiro’s men, scoring nine goals from seven matches this season in all competitions.  

The striker was strangely referred to as a “youngster” by a journalist, which stunned Riveiro during the MTN8 press conference at the Premier Soccer League (PSL) headquarters on Thursday.  

“I think he is 26 years old,” Riveiro responded.  

“He is a mature boy and I think he is showing he is on a different stage of his career and maturity is playing a big role.  

“The same way I always try to keep my feet on the ground, my team is pretty much the same as myself and we don’t think about what we got the last time.  

“We want to go to the next one to make sure that again we are the better team after the last whistle.  

“There’s no exception to the ones [players] who are performing to their best level right now.”  

Riveiro will need Lepasa and the rest of his team to be at their best when they face tricky Stellenbosch FC in the first leg of their MTN8 semifinal at Athlone Stadium on Sunday (3pm).  

Pirates kicked off their DStv Premiership campaign with a shocking 1-0 defeat to Stellies.  

Riveiro is eager to defend the first trophy he won after he joined the Sea Robbers at the beginning of last season.   

“Everyone in the team is really focused on this tournament because we have good memories together and we want to repeat it again with a good semifinal,” he said.  

“Like we have always said, we want to play in every final and to make it possible we have to play well against Stellenbosch on Sunday.”  

Despite their strong start to the season, beating Pirates, Stellies have lost their last two league outings to SuperSport United and Kaizer Chiefs.