Orlando Pirates defender Lucky Lekgwathi will on Thursday accompany Bucs to the Seychelles for their African Champions League match against St Michel on Saturday.
Lekgwathi has been out of action for more than six months after sustaining a career-threatening injury while playing for Bafana Bafana during the 2004 African Cup of Nations qualifiers.
”Lucky is back in action, he has fully recovered from the injury,” said Pirates assistant coach Harris Chueu, who expects a tough match in Seychelles.
”We have to be strong and remember that we are representing the whole of South Africa in the tournament.
”We have an idea of what to expect in Seychelles after sending one of our development coaches [Teboho Moloi] to spy on them two weeks ago.
”Our preparations have been going very well. We will have only one traning session in Seychelles at the venue where the match will be played.
”With the exception of Muamba Musasa, all the players will be available for selection. Musasa accumulated two bookings when we played against Matlama of Lesotho in the preliminary rounds.”
Chueu said their aim is to beat St Michel both in the two-legged qualifier to book themselves a place in the mini-league.
”After qualifying for the mini-league, we are going to start focusing on reclaiming the African Champions League title,” said Chueu.
Pirates are the only Southern Africa club to have won the Champions League (1995). Another South African club, Kaizer Chiefs won the Mandela Cup in 2001.
Pirates are one of the four South African clubs taking part in the continental club cmpetitions. The other three clubs are Supersport United (Champions League), Wits University and Santos (Confederations Cup). — Sapa