Mamelodi Sundowns full-back Lyle Lakay says he never gave up hope of returning to the Bafana Bafana fold and is looking forward to challenging himself against World Champions France.
Lakay has returned to the national team after being overlooked for selection since the arrival of Hugo Broos last year and is one of two left-backs alongside Terrence Mashego of Cape Town City,
The 30-year-old represents an inspiring journey where he was once tipped for a European move when he was still within the youth structures at SuperSport United – who picked him up from Old Mutual Academy.
Things didn’t go as planned but after spells at Bloemfontein Celtic and Cape Town City, he was snapped up by former Sundowns coach Pitso Mosimane who then converted him into a full-back and he’s not looked back.
With natural attacking instincts having played for most of his career as a winger, Lakay is arguably one of the best in his position on the continent with three goals and eight assists this season showcasing his talent.
And he admits the recall from Broos is something he’s been working hard towards: “It’s a great feeling. It’s always a great feeling to represent your country, to be back.
“It’s always a great feeling representing your country and every footballer’s dream is to represent the country.
“I always told myself if I’m in, I’ll be happy. And it’s a good thing. If I’m not, you know, it’s not the end of the world.
“I just have to continue working hard trying to make the team [in] the next squad, you know, whenever there’s a qualifier or maybe a friendly match.
“As I said before, if I do make it, I’ll be happy, you know? If not, that’s not the end of the world. I’ll just continue working hard.”
On the prospect of facing the superstars of Les Blues, Lakay feels the opportunity to face world-class talents like Kylian Mbappe is something they look forward to in order to see where they stand in comparison to the elite.
“People will talk and say no, to people that we watch on, like, you know, on TV at the European stage, you know, a Champions League Mbappe, one of the top players in the world right now,” he explained.
“Then you got to Benzema and Griezmann and those guys. But for me, personally, I’ll take this as something we, you tell yourself, you can test yourself against the best in the world.
“Obviously their level, people will tell you, it’s a higher than, which obviously is higher than our level, but at the end of the day, you get to test yourself against the best in the world.
“[It] is something you know, everybody wants to do. You want to see we you stain, you want to compete against the patient, obviously, to see how far you can go.”
Lakay has one senior cap for the South Africa senior national team which came in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against São Tomé and Príncipe in November 2020.
