Lebone Seema earns Bafana Bafana call-up as Ouaddou backs ‘future of South Africa’

Lebone Seema’s breakthrough at Orlando Pirates has been rewarded with a place in Pitso Mosimane’s final Bafana Bafana squad for the upcoming AFCON qualifiers.

The defender was named Defender of the Season last campaign after an impressive first full year, but has continued to develop since Ouaddou took charge of Pirates.

Ouaddou has challenged Seema to improve further and was pleased to see the youngster’s progress recognised by the national team. Seema scored in Pirates’ 2-0 victory over Durban City at the Orlando Amstel Arena on Thursday.

The coach said Seema’s selection should give him added confidence as he prepares to step up to international football.

“First of all, I really congratulate him and all the other members of the team who have been called to the national team,” Ouaddou said.

“I thank Pitso [Mosimane] as well for calling him. It means that he was following his work since last season. He’s the future.

“He’s the future of South Africa. We have such talent in that position in South Africa. I hope this call will give him confidence to continue to work and to grow.”

Ouaddou said Seema’s call-up was no surprise because of the attitude he has shown in training and matches.

“I’m not surprised. He’s somebody who has the good mentality, professional, coachable,” he added.

“It’s very important for me because to improve, you need to be coachable and you need to be able to understand and to listen. He starts to know me now.”

The Pirates coach acknowledged that his approach to Seema had sometimes been demanding, but said that was intended to support the defender’s development.

“Sometimes I can be hard with him. Last season, I was really, really hard with him. But for his good, for his performance, we spoke a lot, we worked a lot about the quality of his passes, the alternation of short passes, long passes, the duels.”

Ouaddou believes that detailed work has helped Seema maintain his progress after his breakthrough campaign. He now hopes the defender can use his experience with Bafana Bafana to continue improving and contribute further to Pirates.

“But of course, like you said, he has a lot of matches of progression. I’m really, really happy. Our technical staff and the club are very happy about this call,” he said.

“I hope he’s going to continue and to bring us this experience as well from the national team. Again, thanks to Pitso to see his qualities.”