Gabadinho Mhango furious
Star-striker Gabadinho Mhango has said he is disappointed with Malawi national football team Coach, Ronny van Geneudgen,
for, without explanation, unilaterally dropping him from the Flames squad that met Lesotho at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe on Sunday.
“I am just getting surprised because I was not part of team [in] today’s [Saturday] game. I was shocked. They told me that I was ruled out because I was injured. [Yet] I didn’t have an injury. It was just a small knock. The doctor said I was supposed to train yesterday [Friday] with the team,” Mhango said.
Addressing the press in Lilongwe on Thursday, van Geneugden and Team Manager James Sangala said Mhango was ruled out of the friendly due to injury.
“I think he has slim chances of passing a fitness test. He was limping, meaning [that] he was feeling pain,” Sangala told the press.
But Mhango said the Flames’ coaching panel was economical with the truth.
“The doctor said it was a small knock, so I was supposed to rest on Thursday and return to training on Friday. But when I arrived at the hotel, the team manager said the coach had dropped me.
“Why didn’t the coach ask me how I was feeling? He was supposed to hear from me but [he] just made the decision to take me out of the team. I am very disappointed because I came from South Africa to play for my country.
“I don’t understand why the coach did that. There are also some situations [when] the coach doesn’t talk to us. The coach is like our father. He needs, every time, to talk to us,” the Bidvest Wits player (Mhango) said.
The former Nyasa Big Bullets striker, who is serving a six-game ban for spitting at AmaZulu’s Michael Morton in South Africa, said he was not sure about his availability for the next Flames’ call-up.
Van Geneugden yesterday said he dropped Mhango from the squad on recommendation from a doctor at a Lilongwe hospital.
“He was unable to continue training after picking an injury on Wednesday. Our physiotherapist and team doctor examined him and eventually, took him to hospital alongside Gomezgani Chirwa and Stanley Sanudi. At the hospital, it was confirmed that he had a foot injury. Together with the team doctor and the technical team, we said we could not take a risk and we dropped him,” the Coach said.
Earlier, van Geneugden said he sat down with Mhango to advise him on why it was important for him to remain level-headed and professional since he is a role model to many Malawian footballers.
Sangala yesterday confirmed that Mhango was released from camp solely due to the injury.
“He was limping and a decision was made to drop him as we could not take a risk. It was only after that decision was made that he insisted that he felt like he could still play,” Sangala said.
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