Sekhukhune United captain Linda Mntambo has revealed how his best friend and former teammate at Orlando Pirates, Zakhele Lepasa, helped recover from a severe injury.
Mntambo, one of the key players at Sekhukhune, recently returned to action after over a year on the sidelines.
The midfielder made an immediate impact for the club upon his return with two goals and a Man of the Match award. The 34-year-old has acknowledged his close friend Lepasa, whom he says was of good help through the difficult times.
“One best friend of mine, Zakhele Lepasa, kept pushing me,” he said.
“Off the field, we worked so hard together, and I also want to give him applause for pushing me because he had a similar injury at Pirates.
HOW ZAKHELE LEPASA PUSHED HIS BEST FRIEND THROUGH THE RECOVERY PROCESS
“So he is the person that I would go to and tell him I was feeling pain. Is it a good thing or not? So he is one that kept me going, and I am really grateful to have him in my life,” acknowledged Mntambo.
The former Jomo Cosmos midfielder has also shown gratitude to the club for the patients while he was out for a long time.
“Everybody has been patient with me,” added Mntambo. “The medical team have done their all to make sure that I come to the field ready and able to contribute to the team’s success. But most importantly my support structure is my family and friends.
“Those are the people who made sure that I stayed sane and focused on the goal, which is getting back on the field. So I think it’s a huge congratulations to the people that I leave with.”
LINDA MNTAMBO’S EMOTIONAL JOURNEY TO RETURNING TO THE FIELD
Mntambo has shared a story of how his son was starting to believe that his career was over. He says that despite it being an emotional time, it was one of the reasons he pushed to recover.
“My kids, coming back and looking at them, that was actually something that kept me going,” he said.
“One thing that pained me, is my son has started playing football and follows football so much. So, I can imagine the talks he gets in the streets.
“Every time he comes back, he would ask, ‘Daddy, aren’t you playing football anymore?’. So he doesn’t understand because he would see me in the gym running on the treadmill and think I am ready,” said Mntambo.
“Obviously, that being said, he felt maybe Daddy doesn’t want to play football anymore. So that pained me a lot because I knew that coming back, not only was I going to play for myself or for the team, but also for my boy and make sure that I make him happy again.
“So I am happy to be back and there is still a lot of work to be done to sustain the fitness levels and be able to play for 90 minutes.”
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