Posted in News on Dec 24, 2008.
Last year, you tore your cruciate knee ligaments at training two days before a friendly against Portuguese giants Benfica to celebrate your Romanian side’s CFR Cluj’s centenary season…
It was very unfortunate as one of my teammates fell on my knee during a training game. That happened on 20 July 2007.
You damaged the knee’s anterior cruciate ligaments. That’s a serious injury that also kept international stars like Holland’s Ruud van Nistelrooy and England’s Michael Owen out of the game for a long time.
It took me two operations and eight months to recover. I almost gave up football and I thought: “I won’t be able to play again.” I even stopped practicing, I was adding weight and I wanted to quit the game. However, somewhere along the line, I thought: “No, I don’t want to retire now”.
Tell us about how you came to Chiefs. After recovering from your knee injury you had a chance to play in the UAE but turned it down. In the end your agent Emmanuel Emenogu brought you to South Africa…
Besides Chiefs, my agent was also in contact with Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates. I was actually supposed to join Pirates. The original idea of travelling to South Africa was for signing with the Buccaneers. Instead, I became an Amakhosi. It happened with me before. I flew to Israel to join Maccabi Haifa in 2003, but I ended up with Hapoel Tel Aviv, where I played for four seasons. That’s football!
Your first goal in the Chiefs jersey was against BidVest - how did that feel?
That was my first official goal since my knee injury in July 2007. I thanked God for that day and the goal, as it hasn’t been easy for me over the last eighteen months. Since my knee injury, it was my dream to play soccer again. I was so excited when I scored against Wits - it confirmed that I still have some soccer left in me.
And then you missed a penalty against Golden Arrows…
I changed my mind on the corner to shoot the ball in at the lost moment. I felt really bad for the fans, the president, Kaizer Motaung, and I prayed: “God, please give me the chance to correct this!” The ball from the corner, just after the penalty, went past me, but then Valery Nahayo scored with a header.
And what about your striker partner Jose Torrealba?
We haven’t played much together as yet. We regularly talk and we’re working hard to gel together on the field. It takes time to get used to each other.
What is your ambition at the Club?
Every player who joins a club wants to achieve something. I don’t want to be at Chiefs just for the sake of playing. I want that the Amakhosi fans will remember my name with pride after I leave. I joined the Club to win the league title and cup trophies!
