How One Wrong Turn Cost Shabalala His Chance At The FIFA World Cup
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Kaizer Chiefs starlet Mduduzi Shabalala has opened up about the freak injury at the end of last season that essentially ruled him out of contention for the FIFA World Cup, describing in vivid detail the moment everything changed during what should have been an enjoyable match.
Speaking to the club’s official media team, Shabalala, now 22, recounted the incident that resulted in a broken bicep, an injury serious enough to derail what had been building into a breakthrough campaign.
“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.”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. 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. So for me, it was for me to land on my back like that. But, my hand was still behind, and my body. I didn’t turn my body quick. 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. “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? And I believe that my turn will come again and I’ll come back soon and I’ll come back strong.”
The timing could not have been worse. Shabalala had been enjoying an impressive rise at Chiefs, establishing himself as one of the club’s brightest young talents. His performances had begun attracting attention beyond domestic football, with whispers of potential national team selection gaining momentum. The attacker has since returned and featured twice for Chiefs in the current campaign.
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