‘Injured’ Limbikani Mzava bears Arrows
A week after pulling out of Malawi National Football Team squad due to injury, defender Limbikani Mzava still featured for his side, Golden Arrows, in a 1-1 Absa Premiership draw with Chippa United in South Africa on Saturday.
Mzava was, last week, ruled out of the Flames’ friendly match against Tanzania this Saturday due to a knee injury he sustained in a league match against Kaizer Chiefs the previous weekend.
But Flames Team Manager, James Sangala, said Arrows management wrote Football Association of Malawi on the issue of featuring the Flames skipper in Saturday’s match before giving him a two-week rest.
“Arrows communicated to us about featuring Mzava in their game well in advance. They did this in writing. So, we were not surprised to see him playing,” Sangala said, adding that the Flames skipper aggravated his injury while on national team duty in Morocco last month.
In a telephone interview from South Africa Monday, Mzava said the team’s officials forced him to play the match despite being in pain as they had few options in defence.
“The knee is painful but I had to obey what my employers asked me to do and played the entire match on Saturday. But I hope to return to action after the two weeks I have been given rest,” Mzava said, adding that doctors have assured him that the knee does not need an operation.
The rock-steady defender has been spotted in recent games playing with a bandaged right knee but he said the injury affected some tissues that would heal by themselves.
Fifa rules require that a player who is injured while playing for their club must still report for national team camp training for assessment.
“A player who, due to injury or illness, is unable to comply with a call-up from the association that he is eligible to represent on the basis of his nationality shall, if the association so requires, agree to undergo a medical examination by a doctor of that association’s choice,” reads part of the regulations sourced from www.fifa.com
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