Mduduzi Shabalala opens up on injury that ended World Cup hopes

UMDLALI weKaizer Chiefs, uMduduzi Shabalala, unethuba lokuyenza eyakhe indawo esikimini somqeqeshi omusha uFernando D Cruz

Kaizer Chiefs star Mduduzi Shabalala has opened up about the freak injury that brought his breakthrough campaign to an abrupt end and effectively ended his hopes of making South Africa’s FIFA World Cup squad.

The 22-year-old suffered the injury towards the end of last season, at a time when he was pushing to establish himself as an important player for both club and country.

Speaking to Chiefs’ official media team, Shabalala recalled the incident in vivid detail, admitting that it remains difficult to revisit.

“For me even now it’s difficult to talk about that because I was on the game and I was feeling the game, I was enjoying the moment because we were not playing with pressure, we were just expressing ourselves,” he said.

Shabalala explained that the injury occurred after he received the ball from teammate Pule Mmodi and attempted to open his body to control the situation.

“So I think me going into that incident, I think I received the ball from Pule [Mmodi] and after receiving the ball, I opened my body. I had something on my leg, so it took it on my right foot.”

The youngster then tried to avoid landing directly on his shoulder as he fell, but his attempt to adjust his body ultimately contributed to the injury.

“Then I fell, I think also I didn’t want to fell straight because I didn’t want to land on my shoulder. So I wanted to land on my back. Kanti [But], that’s where the problem started.”

Shabalala said his hand remained behind his body as he fell, leaving him unable to turn quickly enough before landing awkwardly.

“So the time I wanted to turn, however, my hand was already left here. So I bumped onto my elbow, and that’s when my bicep broke.”

The injury brought his season to a premature end and dealt a major blow to his hopes of earning a place in the national team squad for the World Cup.

However, Shabalala has chosen to view the setback as part of his journey rather than allowing it to derail his ambitions.

“And to me it was to say, maybe it’s not my turn. I should wait for my turn, and maybe God does things in his own way, and he knows what he Why, is he putting me in this situation?”