Mothobi Mvala opens up on emotional toll of year-long injury lay-off

The 32-year-old has finally completed two full 90-minute appearances within a week, underlining his progress towards regaining full match fitness.

Speaking ahead of the Super Cup clash against USM Alger at Loftus Versfeld, the tough-tackling centre-back opened up about the emotional roller-coaster of his lengthy recovery and the challenges of returning to competitive football.

"It was sad, I was emotional sometimes asking myself why me, especially at that time where there were a lot of competitions. There was AFCON, there was CAF to play for, there was a World Cup coming also,” Mvala said. 

“So, I was looking forward to being part of the squad because you want to make history while you are still playing for your club and for your country. When that injury hit me I was very emotional, I thought maybe, I'm done, I never thought I'll be back and playing again." 

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Mvala added that he was fortunate enough to have striker Lebo Mothiba as his teammate given the former Strasbourg goal ace has also suffered the same knee injury while abroad. 

"I kept myself busy, watched a lot of games, and watched a lot of documentaries of the guys that went through this injury. It gave me hope and motivated me that this thing is not new, a lot of players go through this thing,” he added.

“Being close to Lebo Mothiba helped me because he's someone that went through this injury, he was even worse than me. I will motivate myself, when I look at him, running, playing, I'd be like, I'll also be back. 

“His was worse, mine is a bit better but being next him helped me a lot. Sometimes, you wake up in the morning and you feel pain, you don't know where this pain comes from, you feel like you are getting better, the next moment, back to zero. “People like Lebo, you phone them and tell them, you don't think this thing is gonna happen and they tell you, don't worry, you are gonna be okay. The medical staff at Sundowns were very supportive."