Lebone Seema backed to become ‘the future of South Africa’ after Bafana Bafana call-up

Orlando Pirates head coach Abdeslam Ouaddou has described defender Lebone Seema as “the future of South Africa” after the 23-year-old received his first senior Bafana Bafana call-up.

Seema has been included in the 30-man squad selected by Pitso Mosimane for the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Guinea and Eritrea, along with a friendly against Egypt.

The defender joined Orlando Pirates from TS Galaxy last season and has impressed since moving to the Buccaneers. However, he was not selected for Bafana Bafana during Hugo Broos’ tenure.

Ouaddou believes Seema’s progress has been driven by his attitude, professionalism and willingness to take advice. The coach also said the call-up should give the player further confidence as he continues developing.

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

“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, to grow. But I’m not surprised he’s somebody that has the good mentality, who’s professional and coachable.”

Ouaddou said Seema’s ability to listen and respond to criticism had been central to his improvement, despite the demanding standards he had set for the defender.

“It’s very important for me because in order to improve, you need to be coachable, and you need to be able to understand and to listen. You know, he just started to know me now. Sometimes I can be hard with him and last season I was really, 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 and long passes. So, the duels, but of course, like you said, he has a lot of match of progression.”

The Orlando Pirates coach said he, the club and the technical staff were pleased to see Seema rewarded with international recognition.

“I’m really, really happy and our technical staff and the club are very happy about this call. I hope he’s going to continue and to bring us this experience as well from the national team. But again, thanks to Pitso to see his qualities.”