The national team ostracization status has that has haunted Glody Makabi Lilepo for the past two years will continue into the next FIFA calendar dates next month.
Lilepo – who has 11 caps – has not played for the national team since he featured in the friendly against Uganda in June 2023 just prior to moving from Al Hilal in Sudan to Valenciennes.
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Throughout his 16 months in France, where his club played in the Second Division before being relegated, he never earned any caps despite being called up.
Now, while he has been in encouraging form since he joined Kaizer Chiefs in January, there has been total silence from national team coach Sebastien Desabre with qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in sight.
On Friday, Desabre announced his latest squad to play South Sudan (September 5) and Senegal (September 9), and Lilepo was ignored again.
As was reported by this website before, the Amakhosi winger is suffering the consequences for what happened the last time he was called up.
Lilepo threw his toys out of the cot by refusing to travel in the team bus to the stadium after being dropped from the matchday squad during his last call-up.
This didn’t sit well with Desabre, who has since opted to move on minus him.
There have been efforts for the 28-year-old to smoke the peace pipe with the national team selectors, but it hasn’t delivered the desired results yet.
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Lilepo has been forever present at Chiefs since making his debut against rivals Orlando Pirates, playing 22 games in a row.
He has played from start to finish in the opening three league matches this season.
Photo: Daniel Hlongwane/Gallo Images
