Bafana Bafana striker Evidence Makgopa says he’s unbothered by criticism from the public and will do everything he can to repay the faith of head coach Hugo Broos.
Broos called Makgopa up to his first Bafana squad when he replaced Molefi Ntseki as head coach, whilst the lanky striker was still on the books of Baroka.
He’s since moved on to Orlando Pirates despite, at the time, offers arriving from Europe and his start at the Buccaneers was not ideal due to injury curtailing his progress.
However, he’s returned to regular first-team football and grabbed an opportunity for a national team return after the absences of Lyle Foster and Lebo Mothiba.
“You cannot force somoene to love you, you cannot force someone to support you, for me I think I just have to take it the way it is, play my football,” Makgopa said ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final against Cape Verde.
“I have a coach who belives in me, the coach who called me [up to Bafana], the people were already saying why this player? So for the fact that coach called me, I’m here to do a job, I’m here to play and I’m going play my whole heart for him.
“I’m going to do whatever I have to do for the coach because he believes in me, so I have to show him I can do it [perform well for the team]. I’m always motivated, there’s nothing that can shake me.”
Makgopa scored his first AFCON goal in the last-16 as South Africa eliminated tournament favourites Morocco with a 2-0 win in San Pedro on Tuesday.
