Home › Authors › Evidence Makgopa
Evidence Makgopa Quotes
born 2000 South Africa
Sekotori Evidence Makgopa (born 5 June 2000) is a South African professional soccer player who plays as a forward for South African Premiership side Orlando Pirates and the South Africa national team. He represented the South Africa under-23 team at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
South Africa Soccer players Random Evidence Makgopa quote
34 quotes
They will come up to you and criticise you, but then they will try to pick you up for the next game.
But then I said to myself, ‘I can’t let this opportunity go. I have to give it everything.’
South African people are very passionate about football. It’s very personal to them.
Then when I was 13 someone spotted me playing street football and said, ‘This boy can play’.
If you had told me then I would become a professional footballer I would have thought you were completely crazy.
But I can control if I work harder than him, and I make absolutely sure that I do.
I can say that I’m proud of my performances, especially the game against France.
I think my biggest qualities are my finishing, my aerial game and my movement.
But dreaming about doing what he was doing was too unrealistic.
I was really, really nervous beforehand, but I said to myself, ‘Get your head down, be humble, work hard, you know you can do this’.
I never want to give a coach, in any game throughout my career, the opportunity to criticise my work-rate. I would rather die on the pitch.
And in every single game. I know that there may be a striker who is faster than me, more skilful, a better finisher, and I can’t do anything about that.
But I also wanted to give absolutely everything I had to justify this incredible opportunity.
I only played professional football for the first time 15 months earlier and there I was representing Bafana Bafana.
I used to look at them as I walked to school and think, ‘How good must it be to be that player? He must have an amazing life.’
That was too unrealistic to even dream about for someone from my village.
You think about all the great players who have played in the Olympics, all the great athletes from other sports, and it makes the feeling of being an Olympian really something.
For movement, I have learned a lot from Cavani. For technique, Ibrahimovic.
And when I did have time, I was paranoid that I would play in a game and make a mistake, so I just stuck to kicking a ball on the streets.
I was very grateful and I wanted to repay that.