Lekgwathi On Mosimane: ‘Local Coaches Give You Freedom’
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Pitso Mosimane is set to take charge of the national team. Image: Gallo Images
Former Orlando Pirates and Bafana Bafana defender Lucky Lekgwathi has explained why the appointment of a local coach, Pitso Mosimane, for the national team will benefit players the same way it did when he first received a call-up during his playing days.
SAFA’s executive committee endorsed the appointment of Mosimane as a replacement for Hugo Broos, and an announcement is expected to be made in the near future as Bafana Bafana prepare to take on the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers over the next few months.
When Lekgwathi received his first national team call-up, Shakes Mashaba was the coach, and it was perfect for him.
By working alongside a local coach, Lekgwathi feels he had more freedom to express himself on the pitch, and he has a feeling that this will work in favour of the current generation with Mosimane at the helm.
“It’s good to have a local coach. I remember my first cap; Shakes Mashaba was the coach. You know, local coaches like to give you freedom to express yourself, compared to European coaches, where sometimes you are scared. You don’t want to express yourself, but with local coaches, they always give you freedom.
“You look at players like Rele (Mofokeng). People say he didn’t play, but I think the other reason was that the coach was from Europe. If he can get a local coach, he will show his talent. It was the same with me. I showed my talent because the coach was local,” Lekgwathi told the media at a Betway Clubhouse event in Johannesburg on Wednesday evening.
“It’s easy to communicate with a local coach. Even when I was at Pirates, having a European or a local coach, mostly you would go to the local coach to say, ‘we want to change the pattern and the system,’ and he would allow you. But for you to go ask a European coach, you would be scared, even as a captain. But it’s easy to ask a local coach. I think he deserves a chance. He needs our support.”
Mosimane has gained a lot of experience since his first spell as Bafana Bafana coach, and this could come in handy with the pressure he faces to surpass the feats of Broos, who led the national team to a third-place finish at AFCON and beyond the group stages at the FIFA World Cup not so long ago.
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