Mamelodi Sundowns left back Lyle Lakay is ready to test himself against the best in the world when Bafana Bafana take on France in an international friendly on 29 March.
Bafana Bafana are set to play two international friendlies during the break against Guinea in Belgium, on Friday, before taking on world champions France in Lille four days later.
Lakay is relishing the chance of playing against the French national team, but will face competition from Cape Town City’s Terrence Mashego for the left-back position.
“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,” Lakay told the Sundowns media department.
“People will talk and say, ‘No, that’s people that we watch on TV on the European stage, you know, in the Champions League’ – Mbappe is one of the top players in the world right now.
“Then you get to Benzema and Griezmann and those guys. But, for me, personally, I’ll take this as something you tell yourself, you can test yourself against the best in the world.
“Obviously, their level, people will tell you, it’s 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 where you stand, you want to compete against the best, obviously, to see how far you can go.”
Lakay is in the Bafana squad for the first time since Hugo Broos’ appointment and he feels like his experience of playing in the Caf Champions League against the best teams in Africa will help him when he turns out for Bafana.
“Beating Al Ahly was a big achievement for us [Sundowns]. I don’t know when a team last beat Al Ahly home and away,” he added.
“Playing in the Champions League, you get experience because you are playing on the continent. For example, Al Ahly have about eight players in the Egypt national team who played recently in the Afcon final.
“Obviously, you have that experience of playing on the continent which you can take into the national team. Going into the national team, obviously, we are going to play against European opposition in France which will help us because they are not the same people we play on the continent.
“It will help us in terms of experience. The camp itself will be a good experience, not only for me but for all of us because of the competition. The teams we are playing against play at a high level. I’m looking forward to it and I’m sure the players are also looking forward to it.”
