Sekhukhune United's Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Renaldo Leaner on his national team call up: I am always working on being called up so I am not surprised

Renaldo Leaner is made of sterner stuff.

The Sekhukhune United goalkeeper is cut from a different cloth.

Leaner, has been part of Bafana Bafana set up before and he was dropped. If it were another player he could have put his head down but not Leaner.

He was also dropped at club level but his confidence never dropped.

Instead, he reveals he worked harder as he managed 18 games for Babana Noko and managed nine clean sheets.

And now he is in the national side ahead of Sipho Chaine to face Panama in the friendly matches in Durban and Cape Town this week.

“I played the first three or four games for Sekhukhune and got dropped for XYZ reasons, but it never stopped me from working hard because I believed in myself,” he said.

“For me, this is my second time being called up. I was grateful to be here because I’ve been working toward this, and it’s always been my goal to play for the national team. So, I was very grateful to be called,” he told the media ahead of Bafana’s friendly games against Panama.

“I don’t feel like I was surprised. In the prelim squad, it’s always five goalkeepers… You always have to be ready because anything can happen. They can get injured, and you have to be ready. So if you feel like there’s always three and you feel like I won’t make the final squad, and when you do get a chance, you won’t be ready. So I was always ready.”